¹And Abijah lay 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 enjoyed rest for ten years. ²Now Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, ³and he removed the foreign altars and the idolatrous raised sites, and he broke the idolatrous statues up, and he cut the phallic parks down. ⁴Then he told Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandments. ⁵And he removed from all the cities of Judah the idolatrous raised sites, and the sun-images. And the kingdom enjoyed rest before him. ⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah, although the land enjoyed rest and he did not have war in those years, because the Lord gave him rest. ⁷And he said to Judah, “We will build these cities, and we will encircle them with a wall and towers and doors and bolts, while the land is still before us, for we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him, and he has given us rest all round.” So they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army bearing shield and spear from Judah, three hundred thousand strong, and from Benjamin bearing the buckler and drawing the bow, two hundred and eighty thousand strong, all these being valiant warriors. ⁹Then Zerah the Ethiopian went out against them with a force of one million, and three hundred chariots, and he arrived in Mareshah. ¹⁰So Asa went out to confront him, and they drew up for battle in the Valley of Zephathah in Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa called on the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, it is nothing to you to help, whether a large number or whether those without strength. Help us, O Lord our God, because we have relied on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man obstruct you.” ¹²And the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and so many of the Ethiopians fell that they had no sign of life, for they were crushed before the Lord and before his battalion. And they carried away a very large quantity of spoil. ¹⁴And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was on them. And they spoiled all the cities, for there was much spoil in them. ¹⁵And they also attacked the tents of cattle, and they captured sheep in abundance, and camels, and they returned to Jerusalem.