2 Chronicles 15

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

2 And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. YHWH [is] with you⁺ in your⁺ being with Him, and if you⁺ seek Him, He will be found by you⁺. But if you⁺ forsake Him, He will forsake you⁺.

3 And many days [were] to Israel without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

4 And they turned in their distress to YHWH, God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He was found by them.

5 And in those times [there was] no peace for one going out, and for one coming in, but great turmoil [was] upon all those dwelling in the lands.

6 And they were beaten down nation by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every distress.

7 And you⁺, be strong and do not let your⁺ hands be feeble, for there is reward for your⁺ work.”

8 And Asa, hearing these words and the prophecy of [Azariah son of] Oded the prophet, strengthened himself and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he restored the altar of YHWH that [was] before the face of the portico of YHWH.

9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon, for they fell on him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that YHWH his God [was] with him.

10 And they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

11 And they offered to YHWH at that time from the plunder they had brought—seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

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

13 And whoever would not seek YHWH, God of Israel, was to be put to death, from small and to great, from man and to woman.

14 And they took an oath to YHWH in a loud voice, and with shouting and trumpets and shofars.

15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and with all their soul they had sought Him, and He was found by them. And YHWH gave rest to them all around.

16 And Maacah mother of Asa the king—he removed [her] as queen mother because she had made a detestable thing to Asherah. And Asa cut down her detestable thing, and he crushed [it] and burned [it] in the Kidron Valley.

17 And the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

18 And he brought the holy things of his father, and his holy things, [into] the house of God: Silver and gold and vessels.

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