2Ch 19 | EE | STEP | Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in Jerusalem. He was safe.

2 Chronicles 19

Jehu tells Jehoshaphat that he has made God angry

1 Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in Jerusalem. He was safe. 2 Jehu the prophet, Hanani’s son, went out to meet him. He said to King Jehoshaphat, ‘You went to help a bad man. You seem to love people who hate the LORD. The LORD is very angry with you because you have done that. 3 But you have some good things in you. You have destroyed the Asherah idols that people worshipped. And you tried to do the things that give pleasure to God.’

Jehoshaphat chooses men to be judges

4 So Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. But he went out among all the people from Beersheba to the hills of Ephraim. He turned the people to the LORD, the God of their ancestors again. 5 He chose men to become judges in the country’s cities. He put them in every strong city in Judah. 6 He said to the judges, ‘Be careful how you do your job. Remember that you are not doing it for men but for the LORD. And he will be with you. And he can help you to say what is right. 7 Now be afraid to make the LORD angry. Be careful and do your job well. The LORD our God is fair. Sometimes a judge might decide not to be fair because he likes one man more than another. Or he might not be fair because one person gives things to him. But our God never does those things.’ ^{▼▼19:7 Beersheba was in the far south and the hills of Ephraim were in the north.}

8 Jehoshaphat also chose men in Jerusalem to be judges. Some judges were priests or Levites. Other judges were leaders of clans in Israel. Their job was to help people to obey the LORD‘s Law. Sometimes people did not agree with each other. And the judges must say what was right. They lived in Jerusalem.

Rules for judges to obey

9 He said to them, ‘You must be afraid to make the LORD angry in the way that you work for him. Obey him faithfully because you really want to do it. 10 Israelites who live in the cities may be arguing. And they will come to you. These problems may be about deaths. They may be about what the Law teaches. They may be about difficulties with God’s rules or about some other law. You must speak to everyone that comes to you for these reasons. You must teach them so that they do not sin against the LORD. If they do not sin, God will not be angry with you or with the Israelites. If you tell those things to them, you will not have sinned in that way.

11 Amariah, the most important priest, will be over you about all the things that matter to the LORD. And Zebadiah, the son of Ishmael is the leader of the tribe of Judah. He will be over you about all the things that matter to the king. The Levites will be your officers. Be brave and do these things. The LORD will be with those people who do the right things!’