2 Tawarikh 14:2-5

Asa’s Religious and Military Accomplishments

14:2 (14:1) Asa did what the Lord his God desired and approved. ¹  14:3 He removed the pagan altars ²  and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. ³  14:4 He ordered Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors ⁴  and to observe his law and commands. ⁵  14:5 He removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. The kingdom had rest under his rule. ⁶ 

2 Tawarikh 14:11

14:11 Asa prayed ⁷  to the Lord his God: “O Lord, there is no one but you who can help the weak when they are vastly outnumbered. ⁸  Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you and have marched on your behalf against this huge army. ⁹  O Lord our God, don’t let men prevail against you!” ¹⁰ 

[14:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and Asa did the good and the right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”

[14:3]  ² tn Heb “the altars of the foreigner.”

[14:3]  ³ sn Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 7:5; 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[14:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “fathers.”

[14:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the law and the command.”

[14:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “before him.”

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “called out.”

[14:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “there is not with you to help between many with regard to [the one] without strength.”

[14:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “and in your name we have come against this multitude.”

[14:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “let not man retain [strength] with you.”