Ch 13-15 edits/corrections

14-2CH.usfm

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-\v 8 And now you are planning to fight against the kingdom that Yahweh established to be governed by David's descendants. It is true that you have a huge army, and you and your soldiers have brought with you the golden statues of calves that Jeroboam's workers made to be your gods.
+\v 8 And now you are planning to fight against the kingdom that Yahweh established to be governed by David's descendants. It is true that you have a very large army, and you and your soldiers have brought with you the golden statues of calves that Jeroboam's workers made to be your gods.
 \v 9 But you drove out the priests that Yahweh appointed, men who are descendants of Aaron the first high priest. You also drove out the descendants of Levi, and you appointed the priests that you wanted, like the people of other countries do. And so one may even come to set himself apart for the work of a priest, even sacrificing a young bull and seven rams as a sign of his ordination and his dedication to become a priest. But what kind of priest is he? He is consecrated to serve idols that are not gods at all!
 
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@@ -676,13 +676,13 @@
 
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 \v 16 The soldiers of Israel fled from the soldiers of Judah, and God enabled the army of Judah to defeat them.
-\v 17 Abijah and his troops struck the capable soldiers of Israel and killed 500,000 of them, the best soldiers there were in Israel.
+\v 17 Abijah and his troops struck the capable soldiers of Israel and killed 500,000 of them—the best soldiers there were in Israel.
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 \v 18 So the soldiers of Israel were defeated, and the soldiers of Judah won the battle because they trusted in Yahweh, the God to whom their ancestors belonged.
 
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-\v 19 Abijah's army pursued the army of Jeroboam, and they captured from the people of Israel the cities of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, and the surrounding villages.
+\v 19 Abijah's army pursued the army of Jeroboam, and they captured from the people of Israel the cities of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron as well as their surrounding villages.
 \v 20 During the remaining time that Abijah ruled, Jeroboam did not become powerful again. Then Yahweh caused him to become very ill, and he died.
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 \v 21 But Abijah became more powerful. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@
 \v 4 Asa commanded the people of Judah to worship only Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped, and to seek his will and obey his commands.
 
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-\v 5 His workers destroyed all the places where idols were worshiped on the hilltops, and the altars for burning incense to idols, in every town in Judah. As a result, there was peace while Asa ruled the kingdom of Judah.
+\v 5 In every town in Judah, his workers destroyed all the places where idols were worshiped on the hilltops and the altars for burning incense to idols. As a result, there was peace while Asa ruled the kingdom of Judah.
 \v 6 His workers built cities and constructed walls around them. No army attacked Judah during those years, because Yahweh enabled them to have peace.
 
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 \v 9 Zerah, a man from Ethiopia, attacked Judah with an army of one million men and three hundred chariots. He came to Mareshah, southwest of Jerusalem.
 \v 10 Asa went with his army to fight against them, and both armies took their positions in the Zephathah Valley.
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-\v 11 Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God, saying, "Yahweh, there is no one like you who can help those who have very little power to resist large armies. We have come to fight against this huge army. Yahweh, you are our God; do not allow anyone to defeat you."
+\v 11 Then Asa cried out to Yahweh his God, saying, "Yahweh, there is no one like you who can help those who have very little power to resist large armies. We have come to fight against this great army. Yahweh, you are our God; do not allow anyone to defeat you."
 
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 \v 12 Then Yahweh enabled Asa and the army of Judah to defeat the army from Ethiopia. They fled,
-\v 13 and Asa and his army pursued them to the southwest as far as Gerar. A huge number of the soldiers from Ethiopia were killed, with the result that those who were not killed were unable to fight anymore. They were completely defeated by Yahweh and his army, and the men of Judah carried away a great amount of their possessions.
+\v 13 and Asa and his army pursued them to the southwest as far as Gerar. A very large number of the soldiers from Ethiopia were killed, with the result that those who were not killed were unable to fight anymore. They were completely defeated by Yahweh and his army, and the men of Judah carried away a great amount of their possessions.
 
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 \v 14 The men of Judah were able to destroy the villages near to the city of Gerar because Yahweh had caused the people there to become terrified and unable to fight. The army of Judah took away all the valuable things from those villages.
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 \v 3 For many years the Israelite people did not have the true God, and they did not have priests or God's laws.
-\v 4 But when they experienced trouble, they turned to Yahweh, our God, and requested him to help them. And he helped them.
+\v 4 But when they experienced trouble, they turned to Yahweh our God and requested him to help them. And he helped them.
 \v 5 At that time, people were not safe when they traveled, because all the people who lived in those countries were experiencing many difficulties.
 
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-\v 8 Asa was encouraged when he heard what Azariah son of Oded, prophesied. Asa commanded his workers to remove all the detestable idols from everywhere in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and from the towns that his soldiers had captured in the hills of the tribe of Ephraim. Asa's workers repaired the altar where people offered sacrifices to Yahweh that was in front of the entrance to the temple in Jerusalem.
-\v 9 He gathered together all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and many people had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them. He was able to do that because many people had left those tribes in Israel, when they realized that Yahweh was helping him.
+\v 8 Asa was encouraged when he heard what Azariah son of Oded prophesied. Asa commanded his workers to remove all the detestable idols from everywhere in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that his soldiers had captured in the hills of the tribe of Ephraim. Asa's workers repaired the altar where people offered sacrifices to Yahweh that was in front of the entrance to the temple in Jerusalem.
+\v 9 He gathered together all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and many people had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them. He was able to do that because many people had left those tribes in Israel when they realized that Yahweh was helping him.
 
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 \v 10 After Asa had been ruling for almost fifteen years, in the third month of that year, those people gathered in Jerusalem.
-\v 11 At that time they sacrificed to Yahweh seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats, from the animals that they had captured when they defeated the army of Ethiopia.
+\v 11 At that time they sacrificed to Yahweh seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats from the animals that they had captured when they defeated the army of Ethiopia.
 
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-\v 12 They solemnly made an agreement to worship very sincerely Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped.
+\v 12 They solemnly made an agreement to very sincerely worship Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped.
 \v 13 They promised to execute all those who would not worship Yahweh, including those who were important and who were not important, both men and women.
 
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-\v 16 King Asa's grandmother Maakah had made a disgusting pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah. So Asa commanded his workers to cut down that pole, chop it into pieces, and burn it in the Kidron Valley. He did not allow Maakah to continue to influence the people because she was the mother of the previous king.
-\v 17 Although Asa's workers did not get rid of places where people worshiped idols, and those high places remained on the hills throughout Asa's reign. But still, Asa was determined to do what pleased Yahweh all during the years that he was alive.
+\v 16 King Asa's grandmother Maakah had made a disgusting pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah. So Asa commanded his workers to cut down that pole, chop it into pieces, and burn it in the Kidron Valley. He did not allow Maakah to continue to influence the people, because she was the mother of the previous king.
+\v 17 However, Asa's workers did not get rid of places where people worshiped idols, and those high places remained on the hills throughout Asa's reign. Nevertheless, Asa was determined to do what pleased Yahweh all during the years that he was alive.
 
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 \v 18 He ordered his workers to bring into God's temple all the silver and gold and other valuable items that he and his father had dedicated to God.