Chapter 19

¹ And Josaphat king of Juda returned to his house at Jerusalem. ² And there went out to meet him Jeu the prophet the son of Anani, and said to him, King Josaphat, doest thou help a sinner, or act friendly towards one hated of the Lord? Therefore has wrath come upon thee from the Lord. ³ Nevertheless some good things have been found in thee, forasmuch as thou didst remove the groves from the land of Juda, and didst direct thine heart to seek after the Lord.

⁴ And Josaphat dwelt in Jerusalem: and he again went out among the people from Bersabee to the mount of Ephraim, and turned them back to the Lord God of their fathers. ⁵ And he appointed judges in all the strong cities of Juda, city by city. ⁶ And he said to the judges, Take good heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, and with you are matters of judgment. ⁷ And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you, and be wary, and do your duty: for there is no unrighteousness with the Lord our God, neither is it for him to respect persons, nor take bribes.

⁸ Moreover Josaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the priests, and Levites, and heads of houses of Israel, for the judgment of

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the Lord, and to judge the dwellers in Jerusalem. ⁹ And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, in truth and with a ¹perfect heart. ¹⁰ Whatsoever man of your brethren that dwell in their cities shall bring the ²cause that comes before you, between blood and blood, and between precept and commandment, and ordinances and judgments, ye shall even decide for them; so they shall not sin against the Lord, and there shall not be wrath upon you, and upon your brethren: thus ye shall do, and ye shall not sin. ¹¹ And, behold, Amarias the priest is head over you in every matter of the Lord; and Zabdias the son of Ismael is head over the house of Juda in every matter of the king; and the scribes and Levites are before you: be strong and active, and the Lord shall be with the good.

Chapter 20

¹ And after this came the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Minæans, against Josaphat to battle. ² And they came and told Josaphat, saying, There is come against thee a great multitude from Syria, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Asasan Thamar, this is Engadi. ³ And Josaphat was alarmed, and set his face to seek the Lord earnestly, and he proclaimed a fast in all Juda. ⁴ And Juda gathered themselves together to seek after the Lord: even from all the cities of Juda they came to seek the Lord.

⁵ And Josaphat stood up in the assembly of Juda in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, in front of the new court. ⁶ And he said, O Lord God of my fathers, art not thou God in heaven above, and art not thou Lord of all the kingdoms of the nations? and is there not in thy hand the might of dominion, and there is no one who can resist thee? ⁷ Art not thou the Lord that didst destroy the inhabitants of this land before the face of thy people Israel, and didst give it to thy beloved seed of Abraham for ever? ⁸ And they dwelt in it, and built in it a sanctuary to thy name, saying, ⁹ If there should come upon us evils, sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, (for thy name is upon this house,)and we will cry to thee because of the affliction, and thou shalt hear, and deliver. ¹⁰ And now, behold, the children of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, with regard to whom thou didst not permit Israel to pass through ³their border, when they had come out of the land of Egypt, (for they turned away from them, and did not destroy them;)--¹¹ yet now, behold, they make attempts against us, to come forth to cast us out from our inheritance which thou gavest us. ¹² O Lord our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no strength to resist this great multitude that is come against us; and we know not what we shall do to them: but our eyes are toward thee.

¹³ And all Juda was standing before the Lord, and their children, and their wives. ¹⁴ And Oziel the son of Zacharias, of the children of Banaias, of the sons of Eleïel,

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the sons of Matthanias the Levite, of the sons of Asaph,--upon him came the Spirit of the Lord in the assembly: ¹⁵ and he said, Hear ye, all Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and king Josaphat: Thus saith the Lord to ⁴you, even you, Fear not, neither be alarmed, before all this great multitude; for the battle is not years, but God's. ¹⁶ To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Assis, and ye shall find them at the extremity of the river of the wilderness of Jeriel. ¹⁷ It is not for you to fight: understand these things, and see the deliverance of the Lord with you, Juda and Jerusalem: fear not, neither be afraid to go forth to-morrow to meet them; and the Lord shall be with you. ¹⁸ And Josaphat bowed with his face to the ground with all Juda and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and they fell before the Lord to worship the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Levites of the children of Caath, and they of the sons of Core, rose up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

²⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Thecoe: and as they went out, Josaphat stood and cried, and said, Hear me, Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem; put your trust in the Lord God, and ⁵your trust shall be honored; trust in his prophet, and ye shall prosper. ²¹ And he took counsel with the people, and set appointed men to sing psalms and praises, to give thanks, and ⁶sing the holy songs of praise in going forth before the host: and they said, Give thanks to the Lord, for his mercy endures for ever.

²² And when they began the praise and thanksgiving, the Lord caused the children of Ammon to fight against Moab, and the inhabitants of mount Seir that came out against Juda; and they were routed. ²³ Then the children of Ammon and Moab rose up against the dwellers in mount Seir, to destroy and consume them; and when they had made an end of destroying the inhabitants of Seir, they rose up against one another so that they were utterly destroyed.

²⁴ And Juda came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, and looked, and saw the multitude, and, behold, they were all fallen dead upon the earth, not one escaped. ²⁵ And Josaphat and his people went out to spoil them, and they found much cattle, and furniture, and spoils, and precious things: and they spoiled them, and they were three days gathering the spoil, for it was abundant. ²⁶ And it came to pass on the fourth day they were gathered to the Valley of ⁷Blessing; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore they called the name of the place the Valley of Blessing, until this day.

²⁷ And ⁸all the men of Juda returned to Jerusalem, and Josaphat led them with great joy; for the Lord gave them joy ⁹over their enemies. ²⁸ And they entered into Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets, going into the house of the lord. ²⁹ And there was a terror of the Lord upon all the kingdoms of the land, when they heard that the Lord fought against the

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enemies of Israel. ³⁰ And the kingdom of Josaphat was at peace; and his God gave him rest round about.

³¹ And Josaphat reigned over Juda, being thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Azuba, daughter of Sali. ³² And he walked in the ways of his father Asa, and turned not aside from doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. ³³ nevertheless the high places yet remained; and as yet the people did not direct their heart to the Lord God of their fathers.

³⁴ And the rest of the acts of Josaphat, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the history of Jeu the son of Anani, who wrote the book of the kings of Israel.

³⁵ And afterwards Josaphat king of Juda entered into an alliance with Ochozias king of Israel, (now this was an unrighteous man,) ³⁶ by acting with and going to him, to build ships to go to Tharsis: and he built ships in Gasion Gaber. ³⁷ And Eliezer thee son of Dodia of Marisa prophesied against Josaphat, saying, Forasmuch as thou hast allied thyself with Ochozias, the Lord has broken thy work, and thy vessels have been wrecked. And they could not go to Tharsis.