Old Testament · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 15

The Prophecy of Azariah

1And upon Azariah the son of Oded was the spirit^a of God. 2And he went out before Asa, and said to him: "Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you while you are with Him; and if you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3And many days Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without Torah. 4And he returned in his distress to the LORD, the God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He was found by them. 5And in those times there was no peace to the one going out and to the one coming in, for great tumults were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. 6And nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with all distress. 7But you, be strong, and let not your hands drop, for there is reward for your work.

Asa’s Reforms

(1 Kings 15:9–15)

8And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he strengthened himself, and removed the detestable things from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which he had captured from mount Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of the LORD that was before the porch of the LORD. 9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the sojourners with them from Ephraim and Manasseh, and from Simeon; for they fell to him from Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

10And they gathered to Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11And they sacrificed to the LORD in that day, from the spoil they had brought, seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep. 12And they entered into the covenant^b to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul^c; 13and everyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, would be put to death, from small to great, from man^d to woman^e. 14And they swore to the LORD with a great voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns. 15And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for with all their heart they had sworn, and with all their will they sought Him, and He was found by them; and the LORD gave them rest round about.

16And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen-mother, because she had made for an Asherah a horrid thing; and Asa cut down her horrid thing, and crushed it fine, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was whole all his days. 18And he brought the holy things of his father, and his own holy things, into the house of God: silver and gold and vessels.

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