2 Chronicles 14

1 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet ten years.

When Abijah died, he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. His son Asa became the king. While Asa was ruling, there was peace in Judah for ten years.

2 Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:

Asa did things that Yahweh his God considers to be right and good.

3 for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherim,

His workers got rid of the altars to worship foreign gods that were on the high hills. They smashed the sacred stone pillars and cut down the poles for worshiping [the goddess] Asherah.

4 and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

Asa commanded the people of Judah to worship [only] Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped, and to obey his laws and commands.

5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

His workers destroyed all the shrines on the hilltops and the altars for burning incense [to idols] in every town in Judah. As a result, there was peace while Asa ruled the kingdom [of Judah].

6 He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him rest.

His workers built cities and constructed walls around them. No army attacked Judah during that time, because Yahweh enabled them to have peace.

7 For he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours. Since we have sought the LORD our God, he has sought us and he has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.

Asa said to the people of Judah, “We should protect these towns by building walls around them, with watchtowers and gates that have bars. This country still belongs to us because we have requested Yahweh our God to help us. We requested him for his help, and he has given us peace in our entire country.” So they built buildings and prospered.

8 Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred eighty thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.

Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah. They all carried large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin [in his army]. They carried [smaller] shields, and bows [and arrows]. They were all brave soldiers.

9 There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million troops, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah.

Zerah, a man from Ethiopia/Sudan, marched with a huge army and 300 chariots to attack [the army of Judah and Benjamin]. They went as far as [the town of] Mareshah [about 25 miles/southwest of Jerusalem].

10 Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

Asa went [with his army] to fight against them, and both armies took their positions in the Zephathah Valley.

11 Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, there is none besides you to help, between the mighty and those who have no strength. Help us, LORD our God; for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God. Do not let man prevail against you."

Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God, saying, “Yahweh, there is no one like you who can help those who have very little power to resist a mighty army. Yahweh our God, help us, because we are relying on you; and trusting in you we have come [to fight] against this huge army. Yahweh, you are our God; do not allow anyone to defeat you.”

12 So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

Then Yahweh enabled Asa and the army of Judah to defeat the army from Ethiopia. They fled,

13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his army; and they carried away very much booty.

and Asa and his army pursued them [to the southwest] as far as Gerar. A huge number of the soldiers from Ethiopia were killed, with the result that those [who were not killed] were unable to fight any more. They were greatly defeated by Yahweh and his army, and the men of Judah carried away a great amount of their possessions.

14 They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came on them: and they plundered all the cities; for there was a great amount of plunder in them.

The men of Judah were able to destroy the people in villages near Gerar because Yahweh had caused the people there to become terrified [and unable to fight]. The army of Judah took away all the valuable things from those villages.

15 They struck also the tents of livestock, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

They also attacked the places where the local people who took care of domestic animals had set up their tents, and they took away big herds of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.