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¹ AND it came to pass after this, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, with the mighty men of war, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.² Then there came messengers and told Jehoshaphat, saying, A great army has come against you from beyond the Red Sea; and, behold, they are encamping in Jericho, which is En-gad.³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and he raised up his face to pray before the LORD and proclaimed a fast for all the inhabitants of Judah. And he said to them, Gather yourselves together and come let us beseech the LORD our God.⁴ And all the inhabitants of Judah gathered themselves together, even from far off cities, and they came to beseech the LORD.⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the midst of the assembly of Judah in the house of the LORD, which is in Jerusalem, before the new court,⁶ And he prayed and said, O LORD God of our fathers, thou art the God in heaven, and thou art ruler over all the kingdoms of the world, and thine is power and might, and now I stand before thee praying.⁷ And thou art our God, who didst destroy the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the descendants of Abraham thy friend for ever.⁸ And they have dwelt in it, and have built in it a sanctuary for thy name, saying,⁹ Now, because there is a sanctuary among us, no evil shall come upon us, nor the sword nor judgment nor pestilence nor famine; and we shall come and stand before this house and before thee (for thy name has been invoked in this house), and we will pray before thee in this house, and thou wilt hear our prayer and save us.¹⁰ And now, behold, the children of Ammon, of the mount of Gabel, and of Moab, with whom thou wouldst not let Israel mix when thou didst bring them out of the land of Egypt, and thou hadst removed the yoke of the Egyptians from them,¹¹ Behold, now they reward us; they are coming to drive us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.¹² O our God, make thyself known and judge them, for we have no strength to stand before them; bring upon them the sword of thy judgment, for we do not know what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.¹³ And all Judah stood before the LORD with their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters.

¹⁴ Then upon Hazaiel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiadah, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the spirit of might from before the LORD, and he was standing before the people of Israel;¹⁵ And he said, Hearken, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, thus says the LORD your God: Be not afraid nor dismayed because of this great army; for the battle is not yours, but Gods.¹⁶ Hasten, go down against them; behold, they are coming up early in the morning; and you shall find them in the cliff of the valley, before the wilderness. They are coming up to fight against you.¹⁷ And in that hour, stand still and see the salvation that the LORD will do for you, O Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them; for the LORD God will help you.¹⁸ Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and worshipped; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.¹⁹ And the Levites of the descendants of the Kohathites and of the descendants of the Korhites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice,

²⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, so you shall be established; believe in his prophets, and you shall be delivered.²¹ Then he stood in the midst of the people and said, Come, let us give thanks to the LORD, and give praise to the excellency of his holiness, as he is going forth before our armies to fight for us against our enemies. And they said, Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever. Then the hills began to give praise and the mountains began to rejoice.²² And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.²³ For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.²⁴ And when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked to the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped.²⁵ And when Jehoshaphat and the people of Israel came to take away the spoil from them, they found among them an abundance of booty: riches, bridles, horses, and precious jewels, and they took for themselves whatever they desired.²⁶ And it came to pass after three days, when they were through taking the spoil, because it was so much, they assembled themselves on the fourth day in the valley of Borktha; for there they blessed the LORD God; therefore the name of that place was called the valley of Borktha to this day.²⁷ Then all the men of Judah returned to Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat at their head, for they were returning to Jerusalem rejoicing; for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.²⁸ And they came to Jerusalem with songs, harps, lyres, and curved and straight trumpets, to the house of the LORD.²⁹ And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel.³⁰ So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for the LORD gave him rest on all sides.

³¹ And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah; he was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Arubah the daughter of Shilhi.³² And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father, and did not turn aside from them, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD.³³ However the shrines on the high places were not removed; for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts to the God of their fathers.³⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the sayings of Jehu the son of Hanan, which are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel.³⁵ And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly, more than all the kings of Israel.³⁶ And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-gaber.³⁷ Then Eliezer the son of Jehoshaphats uncle prophesied in the city of Mareshah against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because of your partnership with Ahaziah, the LORD has confused all your works. And the ships were damaged and were not able to go to Tarshish.