2 Chronicles 15
1 And the Spirit of God has been on Azariah son of Oded,
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Obed.
2 and he goes out before Asa and says 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 is found by you, and if you forsake Him, He forsakes you;
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 and many days [are] to Israel without [the] true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law,
For many years the Israeli people did not know the true God, and they did not have priests or God’s laws.
4 and it turns back in its distress to YHWH, God of Israel, and they seek Him, and He is found by them,
But when they experienced trouble, they turned to Yahweh our God, and requested him to help them. And he helped them.
5 and in those times there is no peace for him who is going out, and for him who is coming in, for many troubles [are] on all the inhabitants 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 have been beaten down, nation by nation, and city by city, for God has troubled them with every adversity;
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 and you, be strong, and do not let your hands be feeble, for there is a reward for your work.”
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 at Asa’s hearing these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he has strengthened himself, and causes the abominations to pass away out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities that he has captured from the hill-country of Ephraim, and renews the altar of YHWH that [is] before the porch of YHWH,
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 gathers all Judah and Benjamin, and the sojourners with them out of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and out of Simeon—for they have defected to him from Israel in abundance, in their seeing that his God YHWH [is] 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 And they are gathered to Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa,
After Asa had been ruling for almost 15 years, in May of that year, those people gathered in Jerusalem.
11 and sacrifice to YHWH on that day from the spoil they have brought in—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 enter into a covenant to seek YHWH, God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul,
They solemnly made an agreement to very sincerely worship Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped].
13 and everyone who does not seek for YHWH, God of Israel, is put to death, from small to great, from man to woman.
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 swear to YHWH with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns,
They shouted and blew trumpets and other horns while they solemnly promised to do that.
15 and all Judah rejoices concerning the oath, for they have sworn with all their heart, and they have sought Him with all their goodwill, and He is found by them, and YHWH gives rest to them all around.
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 also Maachah, mother of Asa the king—he has removed her from [being] mistress, in that she has made for an Asherah a horrible thing, and Asa cuts down her horrible thing, and beats [it] small, and burns [it] by the Brook of 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 yet the high places have not been removed from Israel; only, the heart of Asa has been perfect all his days.
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 And he brings in the sanctified things of his father, and his own sanctified things, to the house of God: 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 war has not been until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
There were no more wars [in Judah] until Asa had been ruling Judah almost 35 years.
