2 Chronicles 20
1 And after this came the children of
Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them
some of the Minæans, against Josaphat to battle.
2 And they came and told Josaphat,
saying, There is come against thee a great multitude from Syria, from beyond
the sea; and, behold, they are in Asasan Thamar, this is Engadi.
3 And Josaphat was alarmed, and set
his face to seek the Lord earnestly, and he proclaimed a fast in all Juda.
4 And Juda gathered themselves
together to seek after the Lord: even from all the cities of Juda they came to
seek the Lord.
5 And Josaphat stood up in the
assembly of Juda in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, in front of the new
court. 6 And he said, O Lord God of my
fathers, art not thou God in heaven above, and art not thou Lord of all the
kingdoms of the nations? and is there not in thy hand
the might of dominion, and there is no one who can resist thee?
7 Art not thou the Lord that didst
destroy the inhabitants of this land before the face of thy people Israel, and
didst give it to thy beloved seed of Abraham for ever?
8 And they dwelt in it, and built in
it a sanctuary to thy name, saying,
9 If there should come upon us evils,
sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, we will stand before this house, and
before thee, (for thy name is upon this house,) and
we will cry to thee because of the affliction, and thou shalt hear, and
deliver. 10 And now, behold, the
children of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, with regard to whom thou didst
not permit Israel to pass through their border, when they had come out of the
land of Egypt, (for they turned away from them, and did not destroy them;)—
11 yet now, behold, they make
attempts against us, to come forth to cast us out from our inheritance which
thou gavest us. 12 O Lord our God,
wilt thou not judge them? for we have no strength to resist this great
multitude that is come against us; and we know not what we shall do to them:
but our eyes are toward thee.
13 And all Juda was standing before
the Lord, and their children, and their wives.
14 And Oziel the
son of Zacharias, of the children of Banaias, of the
sons of Eleïel the sons of Matthanias the Levite, of the sons of Asaph,—upon
him came the Spirit of the Lord in the assembly:
15 and he said, Hear ye, all Juda,
and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and king Josaphat: Thus saith the Lord to you,
even you, Fear not, neither be alarmed, before all this great multitude; for
the battle is not yours, but God's.
16 To-morrow go ye down against them:
behold, they come up by the ascent of Assis, and ye shall find them at the
extremity of the river of the wilderness of Jeriel.
17 It is not for you to fight:
understand these things, and see the deliverance of the Lord with you, Juda
and Jerusalem: fear not, neither be afraid to go forth to-morrow to meet them;
and the Lord shall be with you.
18 And Josaphat bowed with his face
to the ground with all Juda and the dwellers in
Jerusalem, and they fell before the Lord to worship
the Lord. 19 And the Levites of the
children of Caath, and they of the sons of Core, rose
up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
20 And they rose early in the morning
and went out to the wilderness of Thecoe: and as they went out, Josaphat stood
and cried, and said, Hear me, Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem; put your
trust in the Lord God, and your trust shall be honoured; trust in his prophet,
and ye shall prosper. 21 And he took
counsel with the people, and set appointed men to sing psalms and praises, to
give thanks, and sing the holy songs of praise in going forth before the host:
and they said, Give thanks to the Lord, for his mercy
endures for ever.
22 And when they began the praise and
thanksgiving, the Lord caused the children of Ammon to fight against Moab, and
the inhabitants of mount Seir that came out against
Juda; and they were routed. 23 Then
the children of Ammon and Moab rose up against the dwellers in mount Seir, to
destroy and consume them; and when they had made an end of
destroying the inhabitants of Seir, they rose up
against one another so that they were utterly destroyed.
24 And Juda came to the watch-tower
of the wilderness, and looked, and saw the multitude, and, behold,
they were all fallen dead upon the earth, not one
escaped. 25 And Josaphat and his
people went out to spoil them, and they found much cattle, and furniture, and
spoils, and precious things: and they spoiled them, and they were three days
gathering the spoil, for it was abundant.
26 And it came to pass on the fourth
day they were gathered to the Valley of Blessing; for there they blessed the
Lord: therefore they called the name of that place the Valley of Blessing,
until this day.
27 And all the men of Juda returned
to Jerusalem, and Josaphat led them with great joy; for the Lord gave them joy
over their enemies. 28 And they
entered into Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets,
going into the house of the Lord.
29 And there was a terror of the Lord
upon all the kingdoms of the land, when they heard that the Lord fought
against the enemies of Israel. 30 And
the kingdom of Josaphat was at peace; and his God gave him rest round about.
31 And Josaphat reigned over Juda,
being thirty-five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was
Azuba, daughter of Sali. 32 And he
walked in the ways of his father Asa, and turned not aside from doing that
which was right in the sight of the Lord.
33 Nevertheless the high places yet
remained; and as yet the people did not direct their heart to the Lord God of
their fathers.
34 And the rest of the acts of
Josaphat, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the history of
Jeu the son of Anani, who wrote the book of the kings
of Israel.
35 And afterwards Josaphat king of
Juda entered into an alliance with Ochozias king of Israel, (now this was an
unrighteous man,) 36 by acting
with and going to him, to build ships to go to
Tharsis: and he built ships in Gasion Gaber.
37 And Eliezer the
son of Dodia of Marisa prophesied against Josaphat,
saying, Forasmuch as thou hast allied thyself with Ochozias, the Lord has
broken thy work, and thy vessels have been wrecked. And they could not go to
Tharsis.