1The Spirit of God came on Azariah. He was the son of Oded.2Azariah went out to meet Asa. He said to him, ‘Asa and all you people of Judah and Benjamin, listen to me. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you really look for him, you will find him. But if you desert him, he will desert you.3For a long time Israel didn’t worship the true God. They didn’t have a priest who taught them. So they didn’t know God’s law.4But when they were in trouble, they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel. When they did, they found him.5In those days it wasn’t safe to travel around. The people who lived in all the areas of the land were having a lot of trouble.6One nation was crushing another. One city was crushing another. That’s because God was causing them to suffer terribly.7But be strong. Don’t give up. God will reward you for your work.’8Asa heard that prophecy. He paid attention to the words of Azariah the prophet, the son of Oded. So Asa became bolder than ever. He removed the statues of gods from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin. He also removed them from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He did it because the LORD hated those gods. Asa repaired the altar of the LORD. It was in front of the porch of the LORD’s temple.9Then Asa gathered together all the people of Judah and Benjamin. He also gathered together the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who were living among them. Large numbers of people had come over to him from Israel. They came because they saw that the LORD his God was with him.10They gathered in Jerusalem. It was the third month of the 15th year of Asa’s rule.11At that time they sacrificed to the LORD 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep and goats. The animals were among the things they had taken after the battle.12They made a covenant to obey the LORD, the God of their people. They would obey him with all their heart and soul.13All those who wouldn’t obey the LORD, the God of Israel, would be killed. It wouldn’t matter how important they were. It wouldn’t matter whether they were men or women.14They made a promise to the LORD. They praised him out loud. They shouted. They blew trumpets and horns.15All the people of Judah were happy about the promise they had made. They turned to God with all their heart. When they did, they found him. So the LORD gave them peace and rest on every side.16King Asa also removed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother. That’s because she had made a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. The LORD hated it. So Asa cut it down. He broke it up. He burned it in the Kidron Valley.17Asa didn’t remove the high places from Israel. But he committed his whole life completely to the LORD.18He and his father had set apart silver, gold and other things to the LORD. Asa brought them into God’s temple.19There weren’t any more wars until the 35th year of Asa’s rule.
2 Chronicles 15
English Standard Version
Asa’s Religious Reforms
1The Spirit of God came[1] upon Azariah the son of Oded, (Nu 24:2; Jud 3:10; 2Ch 15:8; 2Ch 20:14; 2Ch 24:20)2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. (1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 12:5; 2Ch 20:17; 2Ch 24:20; Isa 55:6; Jer 29:13)3For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, (Ho 3:4)4but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. (De 4:30)5In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. (Jud 5:6)6They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.7But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” (Ge 15:1; Jos 1:6; Jos 1:9; Ps 62:12)8As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.[2] (Jos 24:33; 2Ch 8:12; 2Ch 13:19; 2Ch 15:1; 2Ch 17:2)9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. (2Ch 11:16)10They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.11They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. (2Ch 14:13)12And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, (2Ki 23:3; 2Ch 29:10; 2Ch 34:31; Ne 10:29)13but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. (De 13:6)14They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns.15And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around. (2Ch 14:7; 2Ch 20:30)16Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. (Ex 34:13; 1Ki 15:2; 1Ki 15:10; 1Ki 15:13; 2Ki 23:6; 2Ki 23:15; 2Ch 30:14)17But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. (2Ch 14:3; 2Ch 14:5)18And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.19And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.