Chronicles 14 (WEB)

1 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days, the land was quiet ten years. 2 Asa did that which was good and right in Yahweh his God’s eyes; 3 for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, 4 and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command. 5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Yahweh had given him rest. 7 For he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, because we have sought Yahweh our God. We have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10 Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.”

12 So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and so many of the Ethiopians fell that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Yahweh and before his army; and they carried away very much booty. 14 They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of Yahweh came on them, and they plundered all the cities; for there was much plunder in them. 15 They also struck the tents of livestock, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

+1:1“Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.+1:1The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).+1:17The pieces of silver were probably shekels, so 600 pieces would be about 13.2 lbs. or 6 kg. of silver, and 150 would be about 3.3 lbs. or 1.5 kg. of silver.+1:17or, Aramean+2:4“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.+2:101 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 liters or 6 bushels, so 20,000 cors of wheat would weigh about 545 metric tons+2:101 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters or 2.4 pecks 20,000 baths of barley would weigh about 262 metric tons.+3:3A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.+3:8A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 600 talents is about 18 metric tons+3:9A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 50 shekels was about 0.5 kilograms or about 16 Troy ounces.+4:1A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.+4:2or, pool, or, reservoir+4:5A bath is about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21.1 liters, so 3,000 baths is about 16,800 gallons or 63.3 kiloliters.+6:13A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.+8:13or, booths (sukkot)+8:18A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 450 talents is about 13.5 metric tons+9:4or, she was breathless.+9:9A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tons+9:10possibly Indian sandalwood, which has nice grain and a pleasant scent and is good for woodworking+9:13A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 666 talents is about 20 metric tons+9:15A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels was about 6 kilograms or about 192 Troy ounces.+9:16A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 300 shekels was about 3 kilograms or about 96 Troy ounces.