15:1
The spirit of God then came on Azariah son of Oded;
15:2
he went out to meet Asa and said, 'Listen to me, Asa, and all you in Judah and in Benjamin: Yahweh will be with you so long as you are with him. If you seek him, he will let you find him; but if you desert him, he will desert you.
15:3
For a long time Israel did not have the true God or a teacher-priest or a law,
15:4
but when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, God of Israel, and sought him, he let them find him.
15:5
In those times there was no security for people as they went about their business, but great unrest affecting the inhabitants of all countries,
15:6
nation being crushed by nation and city by city, since God caused confusion among them by every kind of distress.
15:7
So be strong, do not be discouraged, for your deeds will be rewarded.'
15:8
When Asa heard these words and the prophecy, he took courage and removed the abominable idols throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin as well as from the towns which he had captured in the highlands of Ephraim, and repaired the altar of Yahweh which stood in front of the portico of Yahweh.
15:9
He summoned all Judah and Benjamin as well as those Ephraimites, Manassehites and Simeonites who had settled with them -- for a great many people from Israel had gone over to Asa when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.
15:10
They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign,
15:11
that day sacrificing to Yahweh seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the booty which they had brought back.
15:12
They then made a covenant to seek Yahweh, God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul;
15:13
anyone who would not seek Yahweh, God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether high or low, man or woman.
15:14
They pledged their oath to Yahweh in ringing tones, with shouts of joy, to the sound of trumpet and horn;
15:15
all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it wholeheartedly, and sought him so earnestly that he allowed them to find him; Yahweh gave them peace all round.
15:16
King Asa even deprived his mother Maacah of the dignity of Great Lady for having made an obscenity for Asherah; Asa cut down her obscenity, smashed it and burnt it in the ravine of the Kidron.
15:17
Though the high places were not abolished in Israel, Asa's heart was loyal throughout his life.
15:18
He deposited his father's and his own dedicated gifts of silver, gold and sacred vessels, in the Temple of Yahweh.
15:19
Up to the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign there was no war.
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