Azariah the Prophet Warns Asa

15 Now ^(A)the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, ² and he went out ^[a]to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^(B)the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And ^(C)if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you. ^3 (D)For many days Israel was without the true God and without ^(E)a teaching priest and without the Law. ⁴ But ^(F)in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him. ^5 (G)In those times there was no peace for him who went out or him who came in, because many disturbances ^[b]afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. ^6 (H)Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But you, ^(I)be strong and do not ^[c]lose courage, for there is a ^(J)reward for your work.”

Asa’s Reforms

⁸ Now when Asa heard these words and the ^[d]prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from ^(K)the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. ^(L)He then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord. ⁹ And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon ^(M)who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ^11 (N)They sacrificed to the Lord on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought. ^12 (O)They entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul; ¹³ and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel ^(P)was to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴ Moreover, they made an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, trumpets, and with horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought Him ^[e]earnestly, and He let them find Him. So ^(Q)the Lord gave them rest on every side.

^16 (R)He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made an abominable image ^[f]as ^(S)an Asherah, and ^(T)Asa cut down her abominable image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷ But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver, gold, and utensils. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.