2 Chronicles 15
1 And the spirit of God came on Azariah, the son of Oded;
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Obed.
2 And he came face to face with Asa and said to him, Give ear to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him; if your heart's desire is for him, he will be near you, but if you give him up, he will give you up.
Azariah went to talk with Asa, and said to him, “Asa and all [you men of the tribes of] Judah and Benjamin, listen to me. Yahweh is with you whenever you are trusting in him. If you request him [to help you], he will help you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
3 Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law;
For many years the Israeli people did not know the true God, and they did not have priests or God’s laws.
4 But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded.
But when they experienced trouble, they turned to Yahweh our God, and requested him to help them. And he helped them.
5 In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the people of the lands.
At that time, people were not safe when they traveled, because all the people who lived in the nearby countries were experiencing many difficulties.
6 And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them.
The people of various nations were thoroughly defeated by [armies of] other nations, and people in some cities were crushed by [armies from] other cities, because God was allowing them to experience many difficulties.
7 But be you strong and let not your hands be feeble, for your work will be rewarded.
But you people, you must be strong and do not become discouraged, because [God] will reward you for what you do [to please him.”]
8 And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house.
When Asa heard what the prophet Azariah said, he was encouraged. He [commanded his workers to] remove all the detestable idols from everywhere in the land of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and from the towns that [his soldiers] had captured in the hills of the tribe of Ephraim. Asa’s workers repaired the altar [where people offered sacrifices] to Yahweh that was in front of the entrance to the temple [in Jerusalem].
9 And he got together all Judah and Benjamin and those of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were living with them; for numbers of them came to him out of Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
Then he gathered all [the people of the tribes of] Judah and Benjamin and many people from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them. [He was able to do that] because many people from [those tribes in] Israel had come to me to Judah when they realized that Yahweh, the God that Asa [worshiped], was helping him.
10 So they came together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the rule of Asa.
After Asa had been ruling for almost 15 years, in May of that year, those people gathered in Jerusalem.
11 And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
At that time they sacrificed to Yahweh 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep and goats, from the animals that they had captured [when they defeated the army of Ethiopia/Sudan].
12 And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul;
They solemnly made an agreement to very sincerely worship Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped].
13 And that anyone, small or great, man or woman, who was not true to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death.
They promised to execute all those who would not worship Yahweh, including those who were important and those who were not important, both men and women.
14 And they made an oath to the Lord, with a loud voice, sounding wind-instruments and horns.
They shouted and blew trumpets and other horns while they solemnly promised to do that.
15 And all Judah was glad because of the oath, for they had taken it with all their heart, turning to the Lord with all their desire; and he was with them and gave them rest on every side.
All the people who were living in Judah were happy with the agreement because they had solemnly and very sincerely promised to keep it. They eagerly requested help from Yahweh, and he helped them. So he enabled them to have peace throughout their country.
16 And Asa would not let Maacah, his mother, be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah; and Asa had her image cut down and broken up and burned by the stream Kidron.
King Asa’s grandmother Maacah had made a disgusting pole for [worshiping the goddess] Asherah. So Asa [commanded his workers to] cut down that pole and chop it into pieces and burn it in the Kidron Valley. He then did not allow Maacah to continue [to influence the people because of her] being the mother of the previous king.
17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; but still the heart of Asa was true to the Lord all his life.
Although Asa’s [workers] did not get rid of the shrines on the hilltops in Israel, he was very determined to [do what] pleased Yahweh all his life.
18 He took into the house of God all the things which his father had made holy and those which he himself had made holy, silver and gold and vessels.
He [ordered his workers to] bring into God’s temple all the silver and gold and other valuable items that he and his father had dedicated [to God].
19 And there was no more war till the thirty-fifth year of the rule of Asa.
There were no more wars [in Judah] until Asa had been ruling Judah almost 35 years.
