2 *Chronicles 20

₁Some time later the Moabite and Ammonite soldiers came to make war_against King Jehoshaphat of Judah. The Meunite people also came with the Ammonites. ₂Some people came to Jehoshaphat and said: ‘There are a lot of men who have come to your land to attack you. They have come from the other side of the Dead Sea, from the land of Edom. They are already in the town of Hazezon-Tamar, that is in En-Gedi.’

₃Jehoshaphat was afraid and he asked the Lord what he should do. Jehoshaphat told all the people in Judah to fast. ₄The people of Judah came together to ask the Lord what they must do. They came from all the towns of Judah to ask the Lord to help them. ₅Jehoshaphat went and he stood in the new courtyard of the temple in front of the congregation_of_Judah and Jerusalem. ₆He prayed and said: ‘Lord, God of our forefathers, You are God in heaven. You rule over all the lands and all the nations. You are strong, and no one can stand against You. ₇Our God, You chased away the people who lived in this land before and You gave this land to your people of Israel. You gave this land to the descendants of your friend Abraham forever. ₈We came to live here and we built a temple for You and we said: ₉“When we suffer or trouble comes, or when You punish us with war or disease or famine, we will come and stand in front of this temple and in front of You, because this temple belongs to You. We will pray and ask You to help us and You will hear. You will save us.”

₁₀Now the people from Ammon and Moab and the people from Mount Seir have come to attack us. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, You did not let them go into these lands to defeat them. You said the Israelites must turn away from them and the Israelites did not kill those people. ₁₁But now they have come to attack us. They want to chase us away from this land that You gave us. ₁₂Our God, please punish them, because we are too weak to make war_against all these crowds of people. We do not know what to do, and that is why we are asking You to help us.’

₁₃All the men of Judah were standing there before the Lord, with their babies, their wives and their children. ₁₄Then the Spirit of the Lord went into Jahaziel in front of the congregation. Jahaziel was the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and a descendant of Asaph. ₁₅Then Jahaziel said: ‘Your_Majesty and all the people of Judah and you who live in Jerusalem, listen to me. The Lord says to you: “Do not worry and do not be afraid of all these enemies, because this is not your war. This is God's war. ₁₆Tomorrow morning you must go down to them. They will climb up at the Pass of Ziz. When you get there, they will be at the end of the valley near the side of the Jeruel Desert. ₁₇You will not have to make war yourselves. You can just stand and look how the Lord will save you. People of Judah and Jerusalem, do not be worried, and do not be afraid. Go to them tomorrow. The Lord will be with you.” ’

₁₈Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem went on their knees and they worshipped the Lord. ₁₉Then the Levites from the Kohath and Korah families stood up and started to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. They sang very loudly.

₂₀The people got up early the next morning and they went to the Tekoa Desert. When they started to walk, Jehoshaphat came and he said: ‘People of Judah and Jerusalem, you must trust in the Lord your God, and then you will stay alive. You must trust in what his prophets say, and then you will succeed.’

₂₁Jehoshaphat first asked the people what they thought, and then he chose people who had to sing. They had to walk in front of the soldiers and sing to the Lord, the King, and praise his holy power. They sang these words:

₂₂The people from the Seir mountains wanted to attack the people of Judah. But then, at the same time as Jehoshaphat's people started to sing and praise the Lord, the Ammonites and the Moabites and the people from the Seir mountains became afraid. The Lord made them think that there were enemies in front of them and enemies behind them and the Lord attacked and defeated them. ₂₃Then the Ammonites and Moabites started to attack the people from the Seir mountains and they killed all of them. And then they started to kill each other.

₂₄The people of Judah came to a place near the desert where they could see very far. They wanted to see where the enemies were but then they saw only the bodies of the dead enemies lying on the ground. Not one of them was still_alive. ₂₅Jehoshaphat and his men came and they took the weapons and things from the dead bodies of the enemy. There were so many clothes and precious things that they wanted to take that they could not carry them all. They came back for the next 3 days to take all the plunder that they wanted. ₂₆The next day they came together in the Berakah Valley and they praised the Lord. This is why people today still say that is the ‘Berakah Valley.’

₂₇Then Jehoshaphat walked in front of the men from Judah and Jerusalem and they all went back to Jerusalem. All of them were very happy because the Lord had made them happy when He defeated their enemies. ₂₈They went to the temple in Jerusalem and they played harps, lyres and trumpets. ₂₉The people in all the lands became afraid when they told them that the Lord had made war_against the enemies of Israel. It was God who made the people afraid. ₃₀But in the land of Jehoshaphat there was no war, and it was peaceful. The Lord gave peace to Jehoshaphat and his people. There were no enemies around him.

₃₁Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king_of_Judah and he ruled in Jerusalem for 25 years. His mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. ₃₂Jehoshaphat listened to the Lord and he lived in the right way like his father Asa had done and he did not stop serving the Lord. He did what the Lord said was right. ₃₃But there were still places_of_sacrifice and all the people did not listen to the God of their forefathers. ₃₄The other things that Jehoshaphat did, from the time when he became king to the end, are written in the history of Jehu, son of Hanani, in the book of the kings_of_Israel. ₃₅King Jehoshaphat of Judah later made an agreement with Ahaziah, king_of_Israel. Ahaziah was a bad man who did things that were wrong. ₃₆Jehoshaphat made an agreement with Ahaziah to build boats for him that could go to Tarshish. They built the boats in Ezion-Geber. ₃₇But a man of God, Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from the town of Mareshah, came to Jehoshaphat and gave him a message from God. He said: ‘The Lord will destroy everything that you have built because you have made an agreement with Ahaziah.’

The boats broke up in the sea and they could not go to Tarshish.