The Reforms of Asa
1 Nowthe Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin.TheLordiswith you while you are with Him.If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but ifyou forsake Him, He will forsake you.
3 For a long time Israelhasbeenwithout the true God, without ateaching priest, and withoutlaw;
4 butwhen in their trouble they turned to theLordGod of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them.
5 And in those timestherewasno peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoilwason all the inhabitants of the lands.
6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”
8 And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the citieswhich he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of theLordthatwasbefore the vestibule of theLord.
9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, andthose who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that theLordhis God was with him.
10 So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered to theLordat that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought.
12 Then theyentered into a covenant to seek theLordGod of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
13 and whoever would not seek theLordGod of Israelwas to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 Then they took an oath before theLordwith a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart andsought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and theLordgave themrest all around.
16 Also he removedMaachah, the mother of Asa the king, frombeingqueen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burneditby the Brook Kidron.
17 Butthe high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.
18 He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.
19 And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.