He was committed to following the <sc>Lordsc>;<n id="1" /> he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.p>

<p class="poetry">The scepter will not depart from Judah,p> <p class="poetry">nor the ruler&#8217;s staff from between his feet,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">until he comes to whom it belongs;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the nations will obey him.<n id="3" />p>

Just then<n id="1" /> a prophet<n id="2" /> from Judah, sent by the <sc>Lordsc>, arrived in Bethel,<n id="3" /> as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice.

Their father asked them, &#8220;Which road did he take?&#8221; His sons showed him<n id="1" /> the road the prophet<n id="2" /> from Judah had taken.

and took off after the prophet,<n id="1" /> whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, &#8220;Are you the prophet<n id="2" /> from Judah?&#8221; He answered, &#8220;Yes, I am.&#8221;

Hanani, who was one of my relatives,<n id="1" /> along with some of the men from Judah, came to me,<n id="2" /> and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.<n id="3" />p>

Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, &#8220;Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?&#8221; He said to them, &#8220;I have only done to them what they have done to me.&#8221;

and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;You<n id="1" /> have rebelled against the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> and have not obeyed the command the <sc>Lordsc> your God gave you.

He asked, &#8220;What is this grave marker I see?&#8221; The men from the city replied, &#8220;It&#8217;s the grave of the prophet<n id="1" /> who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">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.

<p class="bodytext">So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest,<n id="1" /> and said to him, &#8220;Why have you not made<n id="2" /> the Levites collect<n id="3" /> from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant and by the assembly of Israel at the tent containing the tablets of the law?&#8221;<n id="4" />