2 Chronicles Chapter 14

¹ When Abijah died, they buried him in The City of David, and his son Asa became king. The country had peace for 10 years.  

Asa Rules Judah

² Asa did what was good. ³ He removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the scared pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, ⁴ and commanded Judah to look to Yahveh God of their ancestors and to observe the Law and the commandments. ⁵ He removed the high places and incense altars from the towns in Judah. ⁶ He built fortified towns in Judah since Yahveh had given the country rest. ⁷ He said to Judah,

“Let’s build these towns and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The country is still ours because we’ve sought Yahveh, and he’s given us rest all around.”

They built and prospered. ⁸ Asa had a standing army of 300,000 from Judah that carried spears and large shields and 280,000 from Benjamin that carried shields and handled bows—fearless soldiers.                                                       2 Ch 14:1-8

⁹ Now Zerah the Nubian came out against them at Mareshah with 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots. ¹⁰ Asa went out to engage him. They drew up in battle formation in the Valley of Zaphathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Asa called to Yahveh,

“No one but you can help us in this battle of the weak against the strong. You’re our God. Help us against this army. Don’t let any mortal prevail against you.”

¹² Yahveh routed the Nubians in front of Asa and Judah. ¹³ Asa and the people chased them as far as Gerar. So many Nubians fell that they couldn’t recover. Yahveh and his army shattered them. Judah carried away a lot of plunder. ¹⁴ They destroyed the towns around Gerar because the dread of Yahveh had fallen on them. They plundered them all, a lot of plunder. ¹⁵ They also struck down the livestock owners and took away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.                                                2 Ch 14:9-15