2 Chronicles 20

¹And it happened after this that the Moabites and the Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle.

²Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, 'A great horde has come against you from beyond the Sea, from Aram — and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is, En-gedi).'

³And Jehoshaphat feared and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast over all Judah.

⁴And Judah assembled to seek from the Lord; even from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court.

⁶And he said, 'O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand are strength and might, and there is none to withstand you.'

⁷Was it not you, our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land from before your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever?

⁸And they settled in it and built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying,

⁹If evil comes upon us — sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine — we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house; and we will cry to you out of our distress, and you will hear and save.

¹⁰And now, behold, the Ammonites and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you did not allow Israel to invade when they came from the land of Egypt, for they turned aside from them and did not destroy them.

¹¹And behold, they are repaying us by coming to drive us out from your possession, which you gave us to possess.

¹²Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no strength before this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.

¹³And all Judah stood before the Lord, even their little ones, their wives, and their children.

¹⁴And Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph — the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in the midst of the assembly.

¹⁵And he said: Give heed, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat — thus says the Lord to you: do not fear and do not be dismayed before this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's.

¹⁶Tomorrow, go down against them; behold, they are coming up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷It is not for you all to fight in this battle. Take your stand, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD with you all. O Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out before them, and the LORD will be with you all.

¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord to worship the Lord.

¹⁹And the Levites arose, from the sons of the Kohathites and from the sons of the Korahites, to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

²⁰And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD, God of you all, and you will be established; believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.'

²¹And he consulted with the people, and appointed singers for the Lord and those praising in holy splendor to go out before the armed force, saying, 'Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.'

²²And at the time they began with singing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who came against Judah, and they were struck down.

²³The sons of Ammon and Moab stood against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to annihilate and destroy them. When they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped one another to destruction.

²⁴And Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, and they turned toward the multitude; and behold, they were corpses fallen to the ground, and there was no survivor.

²⁵And Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder their spoil, and they found among them in abundance: goods and corpses and costly articles. And they stripped them for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days plundering the spoil, for it was great.

²⁶On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore they called the name of that place the Valley of Beracah, to this day.

²⁷And every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned, with Jehoshaphat at their head, to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.

²⁸And they came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets to the house of the Lord.

²⁹And the dread of God came upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought with the enemies of Israel.

³⁰And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at rest; and his God gave him rest on all sides.

³¹And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi.

³²He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD.

³³However, the high places were not removed, and the people had not yet set their hearts on the God of their fathers.

³⁴And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the chronicles of Jehu son of Hanani, which was recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.

³⁵After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who had acted wickedly.

³⁶And he joined with him to make ships to sail to Tarshish; and they built ships at Ezion-geber.

³⁷And Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, 'Because you allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has broken through your works.' And the ships were wrecked and could not go to Tarshish.