2 Chronicles 15

¹And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.

²He went out to meet Asa and said to him, 'Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you when you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.'

³For a long time Israel had no true God, and no teaching priest, and no Torah.

⁴But when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

⁵In those times there was no peace for the one going out or the one coming in, for great tumult was upon all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶And nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God threw them into confusion with every kind of distress.

⁷But as for you, be strong and do not let your hands grow slack, for there is a reward for your work.

⁸When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of the LORD that was before the vestibule of the LORD.

⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the sojourners with them from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon, for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

¹⁰They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil they had brought: seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

¹²And they entered into covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.

¹³And whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

¹⁴And they swore to the LORD with a loud voice, and with a shout, and with trumpets and with ram's horns.

¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for with all their heart they had sworn and with all their desire they sought him, and he was found by them; and the Lord gave them rest on every side.

¹⁶And also Maacah the mother of King Asa he removed from being queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for Asherah; and Asa cut down her repulsive image and crushed it and burned it at the Wadi Kidron.

¹⁷But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted all his days.

¹⁸And he brought the dedicated gifts of his father and his own dedicated gifts into the house of God: silver and gold and vessels.

¹⁹And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.