Jehoshaphat rules Judah as king
1 Asa's son Jehoshaphat became the next king of Judah. He made his kingdom strong to fight against Israel. 2 He put soldiers in all Judah's cities that had walls around them and in other places in Judah. He also put soldiers in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had taken power over.
3 Jehoshaphat obeyed the Lord as his ancestor David had done when he first ruled as king. So the Lord was with him to help him. Jehoshaphat did not worship the idols of Baal. 4 Instead, he served the God that his father had served. He obeyed the Lord's commands. He did not do the wrong things that Israel's people did. 5 The Lord gave Jehoshaphat power over the kingdom of Judah. All Judah's people brought gifts to him. So Jehoshaphat became rich and people respected him. 6 He served the Lord with all his strength. He removed from Judah the altars on the hills and the Asherah poles.
7 In the third year that Jehoshaphat ruled Judah as king, he sent his officers to teach people in all Judah's towns. The names of those officers were Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah. 8 He sent these Levites to go with them: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests, Elishama and Jehoram. 9 These men travelled everywhere in Judah to teach people. They took with them the book which was a copy of the Lord's law. They used it to teach people in all Judah's towns.
