Bible Time

¹SO Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for 10 years. ²And Asa did that which was good and right in the presence of Yahvah his God; ³For he demolished the altars of the strange gods and the shrines, and broke down the images and cut down the groves; ⁴And he said to Judah, Come, let us pray before Yahvah God of our fathers. ⁵He also uprooted out of all the cities of Judah the shrines on the high places and the idols; and his kingdom was quiet in his days, and he had no enemies on all his borders.

⁶And he built fenced cities in Judah; for the land had rest, and there was no one who made war against him in those years, because Yahvah had given him rest. ⁷Therefore he said to Judah, Come, let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is still quiet of wars; because we have sought Yahvah our God, and he has also sought us and he has given us rest from all those who are around us, and has comforted us and delivered us. ⁸And Asa had an army of mighty men of valor that bore swords and spears out of the tribe of Judah, 300,000, and out of Benjamin, that bore breastplate and drew bows, 280,000: all these were mighty men of valor.

⁹And out against them came Zerah the Ethiopian with a large army of 1,000,000 men and 30,000 chariots, and came to Mareshah. ¹⁰Then Asa went out against him, and he fought against him in the valley of Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa prayed before Yahvah his God and said, You are our Lord, you are the help of your people; and when you deliver a great army in the hands of a small force, then all the inhabitants of the earth will know that it is good to rely on you; help us, Oh Yahvah our God, because in your name we have come against this great army. Oh Yahvah our God, do not delay your might from us. ¹²And when Asa had finished praying, the angel of Yahvah routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them as far as Gedar; and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not be numbered: for they were defeated before Yahvah and before his armies; and they took and carried away very great quantities of spoil. ¹⁴And they struck all the cities around Gedar, for the fear of Yahvah came on them; and they plundered all the cities; for there was exceedingly great quantities of spoil in them. ¹⁵They also carried away the tents of the Arabians and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and brought them to Jerusalem.