1 The spirit of God came on Azariah, son of
Obed;
2 he went out to meet Asa and said, ¡°Listen to me, Asa, and all you of Judah
and of Ben jamin. Yahweh is with you so long as you are with him. When you
look for him, he lets you find him; when you turn away, he will abandon you.
3 For a long time Israel will be without the true God, and without priest to
teach the Law,
4 but when trouble comes, they will turn to Yahweh, the God of Israel. They
will look for him and find him.
5 When that time comes, there will be no peace for anyone, for many troubles
will come upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
6 One nation will oppress another nation, and one city another city, because
God will bring trouble and distress on them.
7 But for your part, take courage, and be strong, for your deeds will be
rewarded.¡±
8 When Asa heard these words and this prophecy, he was encouraged to do away
with all the idols throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin, and in the
towns he had captured in the highlands of Eph raim; he then repaired the
altar of Yahweh that stood in front of the Hall of Yahweh.
9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin together, and also the Ephrai mites,
Manassites and Simeo nites who had settled with them, since great numbers of
Israelites had gone over to Asa¡¯s side when they saw that Yahweh was with
him.
10 In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa they assembled in Jeru sa
lem;
11 and they sacrificed to Yahweh that day seven hundred oxen and seven
thousand sheep out of the spoil they had brought back.
12 They made a covenant in which they agreed to seek Yahweh, the God of
their ancestors, with all their heart and soul;
13 anyone who would not seek Yahweh the God of Israel was to be put to
death, young or old, man or woman.
14 They pledged their oath to Yahweh aloud with shouts to the sound of
trumpet and horn;
15 all Judah rejoiced at the oath they had wholeheartedly taken. They sought
Yahweh so earnestly that he let them find him, and granted them peace on
every side.
16 King Asa took from his mother Maacah her title of queen mother, be cause
she had made a hideous idol for Asherah. Asa cut down the idol, and burned
it at the Wadi Kidron.
17 Though the high places were not abolished in Israel, the heart of Asa was
blameless all his life.
18 He deposited the offerings dedicated by his father and his own offerings
too, in the house of God, silver and gold and furnishings.
19 Up to the thirty-fifth year of Asa¡¯s reign there was no war.