^1aSo Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was quiet for ten years during his days.

2 ¹And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Yahweh his God, 3 for he removed ^athe foreign altars and ^bhigh places, shattered the sacred pillars, cut the ^1cAsherim in pieces, 4 and said for Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5 He also ¹removed the high places and the ^aincense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 ^aAnd he built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was quiet, and ¹there was no one at war with him during those years, ^bbecause Yahweh had given him rest. 7 And he said to Judah, “^aLet us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ¹ours because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded. 8 Now Asa had a military force of ^a300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were mighty men of valor.

9 Then Zerah the Ethiopian ^awent out against them with a military force of one million men and 300 chariots, and he came to ^bMareshah. 10 So Asa went out ¹to meet him, and they arranged themselves for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 Then Asa ^acalled to Yahweh his God and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between those of abundant power and those who have no power; so help us, O Yahweh our God, ^bfor we lean on You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, You are our God; let not mortal man prevail against You.” 12 So ^aYahweh smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^aGerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that ¹they could not recover, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before His ²army. And they carried away very much spoil. 14 And they struck down all the cities around Gerar, ^afor the dread of Yahweh had fallen on them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. 15 They also struck down ¹those who owned livestock, and they carried away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.