Chapter 15

Cult Reform. ¹ The Spirit of God then came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him: “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will permit you to find him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. ³ For a long time Israel was without a priest to impart teaching and without the law. ⁴ However, when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he allowed them to find him.

⁵ “In those times it was not safe for anyone to come or go, since all the inhabitants of the land were afflicted with massive disturbances, ⁶ with nations being crushed by other nations and cities by other cities, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong and do not be discouraged, for your work shall be rewarded.”

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, he became resolute in his courage and ordered the removal of the abominable idols throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin as well as from the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He also repaired the altar of the Lord which stood in the vestibule of the house of the Lord.

⁹ Then Asa assembled all the people of Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing among them, since great numbers of people from Israel had deserted to him when they came to realize that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ All the people assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ On that day they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the plunder they had brought back. ¹² After that, they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul, ¹³ while asserting that all those who refused to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether young or old, whether man or woman.

¹⁴ Then all of them swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and shouts of joy, while the trumpets and the horns resounded. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought the Lord with sincere desire. As a result, the Lord had allowed himself to be found by them, and he granted them peace on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down, crushed it to powder, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa himself remained faithful throughout his life. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the votive gifts^[a] of his father as well as his own votive gifts—silver, gold, and sacred vessels.

¹⁹ There was no further warfare until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.