¹And it came to pass after this, that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, went to war against Jehoshaphat. ²And informers came and told Jehoshaphat and said, “A large multitude is coming against you from across the sea – from Aramaea – and they are already in Hazezon-Tamar, which is En-Gedi.” ³And Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he resolved to seek the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast over all of Judah. ⁴So Judah gathered to seek instructions from the Lord, and people also came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord. ⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the convocation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord, in front of the new court. ⁶And he said, “O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven and ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand is power and might, and there is no-one who can match you. ⁷Are you not our God, who disinherited the inhabitants of this land in the presence of your people Israel and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend age-abidingly? ⁸And they lived in it, and they built a holy place for your name in it for you, and they said, ⁹‘If evil comes upon us – the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine – we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house, and we will cry out to you because of our distress, then do hear us and save us.’ ¹⁰And now, look at the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you did not allow Israel to attack when they came from the land of Egypt, so they kept away from them and did not destroy them. ¹¹And here they are requiting us by coming to drive us out of your inheritance which you legated to us. ¹²O God of ours, will you not pass judgment on them, for we do not have the strength in the face of this large multitude which is coming against us, and we do not know what we should do, but our eyes are directed to you.” ¹³And all of Judah was standing before the Lord, including their little ones, their wives and their sons. ¹⁴Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the convocation, ¹⁵and he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Don't you be afraid and do not fear this large multitude, for it is not with you that the war is, but with God. ¹⁶Go down against them tomorrow. Look, they are coming up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook facing the Desert of Jeruel. ¹⁷It is not up to you to fight this matter. Station yourselves and stand and watch the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not fear. Go out tomorrow to confront them, and the Lord will be with you.’ ” ¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed down face to the ground, and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord in worshipping the Lord. ¹⁹And the Levites of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of the Korhites, arose to praise the Lord God of Israel, raising a loud voice. ²⁰And they arose early in the morning and went out to the Desert of Tekoa, and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God and be faithful. Believe his prophets and prosper.” ²¹And he took counsel together with the people, and he stationed singers to the Lord, and psalm-singers, to the splendour of the holy event – when they went out to confront the armed body – as they said,

“Praise the Lord,

For his kindness is age-abiding.”

²²And at that time when they began the joyful singing and praise, the Lord placed ambushers against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who were coming to Judah, and they were struck down. ²³And the sons of Ammon and Moab stood against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, to obliterate and destroy them, and when they had exterminated the inhabitants of Seir, each one helped to bring his neighbour's downfall. ²⁴Then when Judah came to the watchtower overlooking the desert, they cast their eyes on the large multitude, and what they saw was that they were corpses, having fallen to the ground, and that there was no escaped remnant. ²⁵And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take spoil from them, they found among them in abundance both valuables and corpses and desirable objects, and they stripped them for themselves to the point of being unable to carry them, and they spent three days taking the spoil, for it was great. ²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for they blessed the Lord there, which is why they call that place the Valley of Berachah, as it is up to this day. ²⁷And every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned, with Jehoshaphat at their head, so as to return to Jerusalem with joy, because the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸And they arrived in Jerusalem with lutes and with harps and with trumpets at the house of the Lord. ²⁹And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the various countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰And Jehoshaphat's kingdom was quiet, and his God gave him rest all round. ³¹And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he started to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. And the name of his mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. ³²And he walked in the way of his father Asa, and he did not deviate from it, in doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. ³³But the idolatrous raised sites were not removed, and the people still had not prepared their hearts for the God of their fathers. ³⁴And as for the rest of the affairs of Jehoshaphat – the first and the last – they are to be seen written in the Chronicles of Jehu the Son of Hanani, who is recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel. ³⁵And after that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah the king of Israel. He acted wrongly in doing this. ³⁶And he allied himself to him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made ships in Ezion-Geber. ³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat and said, “Because of you allying yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has thwarted your affairs.” And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Tarshish.

Reference(s) in Chapter 20: v.7 ↔ James 2:23.