1 Adormeceu Abias com seus pais, e sepultaram-no na cidade de Davi. Em seu lugar reinou seu filho Asa, em cujos dias a terra esteve em paz dez anos.

2 Fez Asa o que era bom e justo aos olhos de Jeová seu Deus,

3 porque removeu os altares estranhos e os altos, quebrou as colunas e cortou os aserins.

4 Ordenou a Judá que buscasse a Jeová, Deus de seus pais, e observasse a lei e o mandamento.

5 Também de todas as cidades de Judá removeu os altos e as imagens do sol; e sob ele o reino esteve em paz.

6 Edificou cidades fortificadas em Judá; pois a terra estava em paz, e ele não fazia guerra nesses anos, porque Jeová lhe tinha dado descanso.

7 Disse a Judá: Edifiquemos estas cidades, e ao redor delas façamos muros e torres, portas e ferrolhos; a terra ainda está diante de nós, porque temos buscado a Jeová nosso Deus; temo-lo buscado, e ele nos há dado descanso de todos os lados. Edificaram e prosperaram.

8 Asa tinha um exército de trezentos mil de Judá, que traziam paveses e lanças; e de Benjamim duzentos e oitenta mil que traziam escudos e atiravam com arco: todos estes eram ilustres em valor.

9 Saiu contra ele Zerá etíope com um exército de um milhão de homens, e trezentos carros; e chegou até Maresa.

10 Então Asa saiu-lhe ao encontro, e ordenaram a batalha no vale de Zefata, perto de Maresa.

11 Asa clamou a Jeová seu Deus e disse: Além de ti não há quem ajude o fraco contra o poderoso; ajuda-nos, Jeová nosso Deus, porque em ti confiamos e em teu nome viemos contra esta multidão. Jeová, tu és nosso Deus; não prevaleça o homem contra ti.

12 Feriu Jeová os etíopes diante de Asa e diante de Judá; e os etíopes fugiram.

13 Asa, e a gente que estava com ele, perseguiram-nos até Gerar (e os etíopes caíram sem poder salvar a vida, porque foram destroçados diante de Jeová e diante do seu exército), e levaram mui grande despojo.

14 Feriram todas as cidades ao redor de Gerar, porque lhes sobreveio o temor da parte de Jeová; e despojaram todas as cidades, pois nelas havia muita presa.

15 Também feriram as malhadas do gado, levaram ovelhas em grande quantidade e camelos, e voltaram para Jerusalém.

1 So Abijah went to rest with his fathers, and they put him into the earth in the town of David, and Asa his son became king in his place; in his time the land was quiet for ten years.

2 And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God;

3 For he took away the altars of strange gods and the high places, and had the upright stones broken and the wood pillars cut down;

4 And he made Judah go after the Lord, the God of their fathers, and keep his laws and his orders.

5 And he took away the high places and the sun-images from all the towns of Judah; and the kingdom was quiet under his rule.

6 He made walled towns in Judah, for the land was quiet and there were no wars in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.

7 He said to Judah, Let us make these towns, building walls round them with towers and doors and locks. The land is still ours, because we have been true to the Lord our God; we have been true to him and he has given us rest on every side. So they went on building and all went well for them.

8 And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah armed with body-covers and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand of Benjamin armed with body-covers and bows; all these were men of war.

9 And Zerah the Ethiopian, with an army of a million, and three hundred war-carriages, came out against them to Mareshah.

10 And Asa went out against him, and they put their forces in position in the valley north of Mareshah.

11 And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours.

12 So the Lord sent fear on the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; and the Ethiopians went in flight.

13 And Asa and the people who were with him went after them as far as Gerar; and so great was the destruction among the Ethiopians that they were not able to get their army together again, for they were broken before the Lord and before his army; and they took away a great amount of their goods.

14 And they overcame all the towns round Gerar, because the Lord sent fear on them; and they took away their goods from the towns, for there were stores of wealth in them.

15 And they made an attack on the tents of the owners of the cattle, and took away great numbers of sheep and camels and went back to Jerusalem.