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2Ch 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.
2Ch 20:2 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.
2Ch 20:3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and
proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
2Ch 20:4 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.
2Ch 20:5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem,
in the house of the Lord, before the new court,
2Ch 20:6 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?
2Ch 20:7 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?
2Ch 20:8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein
for thy name, saying,
2Ch 20:9 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.
2Ch 20:10 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;
2Ch 20:11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy
possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
2Ch 20:12 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.
2Ch 20:13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones,
their wives, and their children.
2Ch 20:14 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;
2Ch 20:15 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.
2Ch 20:16 Tomorrow 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.
2Ch 20:17 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; tomorrow go out against them: for
the Lord will be with you.
2Ch 20:18 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.
2Ch 20:19 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.
2Ch 20:20 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.
2Ch 20:21 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.
2Ch 20:22 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.
2Ch 20:23 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.
2Ch 20:24 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.
2Ch 20:25 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.
2Ch 20:26 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.
2Ch 20:27 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.
2Ch 20:28 And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and
trumpets unto the house of the Lord.
2Ch 20:29 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.
2Ch 20:30 So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest
round about.
2Ch 20:31 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.
2Ch 20:32 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.
2Ch 20:33 Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the
people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.
2Ch 20:34 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.
2Ch 20:35 And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with
Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly:
2Ch 20:36 And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish:
and they made the ships in Eziongeber.
2Ch 20:37 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. |