|
Chapter 20 |
| 1 | It came to
pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and
with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
|
| 2 | Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great
multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold,
they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. |
|
3 | And Jehoshaphat feared, and
set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
|
| 4 | And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even
out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. |
| 5 | And
Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of
the LORD, before the new court, |
| 6 | And said, O LORD God of our
fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms
of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is
able to withstand thee? |
| 7 | Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the
inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of
Abraham thy friend for ever? |
|
8 | And they dwelt therein, and have built
thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, |
| 9 | If, when evil
cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand
before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and
cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. |
| 10 | And
now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest
not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned
from them, and destroyed them not; |
| 11 | Behold, I say, how they
reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us
to inherit. |
|
12 | O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no
might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what
to do: but our eyes are upon thee. |
| 13 | And all Judah stood before
the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. |
| 14 |
Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel,
the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the
LORD in the midst of the congregation; |
| 15 | And he said, Hearken ye, all
Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith
the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of 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 cliff of Ziz; and ye shall
find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. |
| 17 |
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and
see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be
dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
|
| 18 | And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all
Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the
LORD. |
| 19 |
And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the
children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud
voice on high. |
|
20 | And they rose early in the morning, and went forth
into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and
said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD
your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye
prosper. |
| 21
| And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed
singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they
went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth
for ever. |
| 22
| And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set
ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were
come against Judah; and they were smitten. |
|
23 | For the children of
Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay
and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir,
every one helped to destroy another. |
| 24 | And when Judah came toward
the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold,
they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. |
| 25 | And
when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found
among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels,
which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and
they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. |
| 26 | And
on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for
there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called,
The valley of Berachah, unto this day. |
| 27 | Then they returned, every man
of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again
to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their
enemies. |
| 28
| And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and
trumpets unto the house of the LORD. |
| 29 | And the fear of God was on
all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought
against the enemies of Israel. |
| 30 | So the realm of Jehoshaphat
was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about. |
| 31 | And
Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's
name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. |
|
32 | And he walked in the way
of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the
sight of the LORD. |
| 33 | Howbeit the high places were not taken away:
for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their
fathers. |
| 34
| Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last,
behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is
mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. |
| 35 | And after
this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel,
who did very wickedly: |
| 36 | And he joined himself with him to make ships
to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongaber. |
| 37 | Then
Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying,
Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works.
And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish. |
