1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded: 2 and he
went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear you me, Asa, and all Judah
and Benjamin: Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if
you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he
will forsake you. 3 Now for a long season Israel was without the true God,
and without a teaching priest, and without law: 4 But when in their
distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was
found of them. 5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out,
nor to him who came in; but great vexations were on all the inhabitants of
the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city
against city; for God did vex them with all adversity. 7 But be you
strong, and don't let your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.
8 When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he
took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and
Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of
Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh, that was before the porch of
Yahweh. 9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with
them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out
of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month,
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to Yahweh in
that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven
thousand sheep. 12 They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God
of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 and
that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to
death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 They swore to
Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with
cornets. 15 All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all
their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of
them: and Yahweh gave them rest round about. 16 Also Maacah, the mother of
Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable
image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and
burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken away
out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
18 He brought into the house of God the things that his father had
dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
19 There was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the reign of
Asa.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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