2 Chronicles 15

1 Now Azariah, the son of Oded, had the Spirit of God within him.

And the spirit of God came on Azariah, the son of Oded;

2 And he went out to meet Asa, and he said to him: “Listen to me, Asa and all of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you, because you have been with him. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.

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.

3 Then many days will pass in Israel, apart from the true God, and apart from a learned priest, and apart from the law.

Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law;

4 And when, in their anguish, they will have returned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and will have sought him, they shall find him.

But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded.

5 In that time, there will be no peace for those who depart and those who enter. Instead, there will be terror on every side, among all the inhabitants of the lands.

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.

6 For nation will fight against nation, and city against city. For the Lord will disturb them with every anguish.

And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them.

7 But as for you, be strengthened, and do not let your hands be weakened. For there will be a reward for your work.”

But be you strong and let not your hands be feeble, for your work will be rewarded.

8 And when Asa had heard these particular words, and the prophecy of the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, he was strengthened, and he took away the idols from the entire land of Judah, and from Benjamin, and from the cities that he had seized of mount Ephraim, and he dedicated the altar of the Lord, which was before the portico of the Lord.

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.

9 And he gathered together all of Judah and Benjamin, and with them the new arrivals from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon. For many had fled to him from Israel, seeing that the Lord his God was with him.

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.

10 And when they had arrived in Jerusalem, in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa,

So they came together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the rule of Asa.

11 they immolated to the Lord on that day, from the best of the spoils and from the plunder that they had brought: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand rams.

And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

12 And he entered, according to custom, in order to confirm the covenant, so that they would seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with their whole heart and with their whole soul.

And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul;

13 “But if anyone,” he said, “will not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, let him die, from the least even to the greatest, from man even to woman.”

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.

14 And they swore to the Lord, with a great voice, in jubilation, and with the blare of trumpets, and with the sound of horns,

And they made an oath to the Lord, with a loud voice, sounding wind-instruments and horns.

15 all who were in Judah swore with a curse. For with all their heart they swore, and with all their will they sought and found him. And the Lord granted rest on all sides to them.

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.

16 Then too, Maacah, the mother of king Asa, he deposed from the august authority, because she had made an idol of Priapus within a sacred grove. And he entirely crushed it, breaking it into pieces, and he burned it at the torrent Kidron.

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.

17 But some high places were left in Israel. Even so, the heart of Asa was perfect during all his days.

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.

18 And whatever his father or he himself had vowed, he brought into the house of the Lord: silver and gold, and vessels for various uses.

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.

19 Truly, there was no war, until the thirty-fifth year of the kingdom of Asa.

And there was no more war till the thirty-fifth year of the rule of Asa.