2 Chronicles 20
The Victory over Moab
and Ammon |
1 |
It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and
with them other besides the Ammonites, came against
Jehosh'aphat to battle.
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2 |
Then there came some that told
Jehosh'aphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee
from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Haz'azon-ta'mar, which is Enge'di.
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3 |
And Jehosh'aphat feared, and set himself
to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast
throughout all Judah.
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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.
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5 |
And Jehosh'aphat stood in the
congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
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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?
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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 Is.
41.8 · Jas.
2.23 for ever?
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8 |
And they dwelt therein, and have built
thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
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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.
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10 |
And now, behold, the children of Ammon
and Moab and mount Se'ir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade,
when they came out of the land of Egypt, Deut. 2.4-19 but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
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11 |
behold, I say, how they reward us,
to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us
to inherit.
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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.
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13 |
And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their
children.
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14 |
Then upon Jaha'zi-el the son of
Zechari'ah, the son of Benai'ah, the son of Je-i'el, the son of
Mattani'ah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the
LORD in the midst of the
congregation;
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15 |
and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and
ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehosh'aphat, 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.
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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 Jeru'el.
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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. Deut.
20.1-4
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18 |
And Jehosh'aphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the
LORD.
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19 |
And the Levites, of the children of the
Ko'hathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise
the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on
high.
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20 |
And they rose early in the morning, and
went forth into the wilderness of Teko'a: and as they went forth,
Jehosh'aphat 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.
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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.
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22 |
And when they began to sing and to
praise, the LORD set ambushments against the
children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Se'ir, which were come against
Judah; and they were smitten.
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23 |
For the children of Ammon and Moab stood
up against the inhabitants of mount Se'ir, utterly to slay and
destroy them: and when they had made an end of the
inhabitants of Se'ir, every one helped to destroy another.
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24 |
And when Judah came toward the
watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and,
behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none
escaped.
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25 |
And when Jehosh'aphat 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.
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26 |
And on the fourth day they assembled
themselves in the valley of Bera'chah; for there they blessed the
LORD: therefore the name of the same place was
called, The valley of Bera'chah, 4 unto
this day.
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27 |
Then they returned, every man of Judah
and Jerusalem, and Jehosh'aphat in the forefront of them, to go
again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had
made them to rejoice over their enemies.
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28 |
And they came to Jerusalem with
psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD.
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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.
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30 |
So the realm of Jehosh'aphat was quiet:
for his God gave him rest round about.
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The Reign of
Jehoshaphat |
1 Kgs. 22.41-50 |
31 |
And Jehosh'aphat 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 Azu'bah the daughter of Shilhi.
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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.
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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.
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34 |
Now the rest of the acts of
Jehosh'aphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the
book of Jehu the son of Hana'ni, who is mentioned in the book
of the kings of Israel.
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35 |
And after this did Jehosh'aphat king of
Judah join himself with Ahazi'ah king of Israel, who did very
wickedly:
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36 |
and he joined himself with him to make
ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in
E'zi-on-ga'ber.
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37 |
Then Eli-e'zer the son of Do'davah of
Mare'shah prophesied against Jehosh'aphat, saying, Because thou hast
joined thyself with Ahazi'ah, the LORD hath
broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able
to go to Tarshish.
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