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
14:6 He built fortified cities throughout Judah, for the land was at rest and there was no war during those years; the Lord gave him peace. 14:7 He said to the people of Judah: 7 “Let’s build these cities and fortify them with walls, towers, and barred gates. 8 The land remains ours because we have followed 9 the Lord our God and he has made us secure on all sides.” 10 So they built the cities 11 and prospered.
14:8 Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, equipped with large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried small shields and were adept archers; they were all skilled warriors.
1 tn Heb “and Asa did the good and the right in the eyes of the
2 tn Heb “the altars of the foreigner.”
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).
4 tn Heb “fathers.”
5 tn Heb “the law and the command.”
6 tn Heb “before him.”
7 tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy for the people of Judah.
8 tn Heb “and we will surround [them] with wall[s] and towers, doors, and bars.”
9 tn Heb “sought.”
10 tn Heb “and he has given us rest all around.”
11 tn The words “the cities” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.