[1] The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded: [2] and he went out
to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear you me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin:
Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be
found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. [3] Now for a
long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest,
and without law: [4] But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the
God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. [5] In those times
there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great
vexations were on all the inhabitants of the lands. [6] They were broken in
pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them
with all adversity. [7] But be you strong, and don`t let your hands be
slack; for your work shall be rewarded. [8] When Asa heard these words, and
the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the
abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the
cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed
the altar of Yahweh, that was before the porch of Yahweh. [9] He gathered
all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with them out of Ephraim
and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in
abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. [10] So they
gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the
fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. [11] They sacrificed to Yahweh in that
day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven
thousand sheep. [12] They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God
of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; [13] and
that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to
death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. [14] They swore to
Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with
cornets. [15] All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all
their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of
them: and Yahweh gave them rest round about. [16] Also Maacah, the mother
of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an
abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust
of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. [17] But the high places were not
taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his
days. [18] He brought into the house of God the things that his father had
dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and
vessels. [19] There was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the
reign of Asa.
