Jehoshaphat Sends Teachers Through Judah
1Jehoshaphat his son became king in his place, and he made himself strong against Israel. 2He posted troops in all the fortified towns of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured. 3Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of David his father and did not consult the Baals. 4He sought instead the God of his father and walked by his commandments, and not by what Israel was doing. 5So Yahweh made the kingdom secure in his hand; all Judah brought Jehoshaphat tribute, and he came to have riches and honour in abundance. 6His heart grew bold in the ways of Yahweh, and he went further and removed the high places and the sacred poles from Judah. 7In the third year of his reign he sent out his officials — Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah — to teach in the towns of Judah, 8and with them the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-adonijah; and with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9They taught in Judah, with the scroll of the law of Yahweh in their hands. They went round all the towns of Judah, teaching the people. 10The terror of Yahweh fell on all the kingdoms of the lands around Judah, and they did not go to war with Jehoshaphat. 11Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute; the Arabs too brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats. 12Jehoshaphat went on growing greater and greater, and he built fortresses and store towns in Judah. 13He had large stores in the towns of Judah, and fighting men, seasoned warriors, in Jerusalem. 14This was their enrolment by their ancestral houses. Of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him three hundred thousand seasoned warriors; 15next to him Jehohanan the commander, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand; 16next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, who volunteered himself for Yahweh, and with him two hundred thousand seasoned warriors. 17From Benjamin: Eliada, a seasoned warrior, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; 18next to him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand equipped for war. 19These were the men who served the king, besides those the king had stationed in the fortified towns throughout Judah.
