1The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
2He 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 look for him, he will be found by you. But if you leave him, he will leave you."
3"For a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a priest to teach, and without law."
4"But when they were in trouble and turned to the LORD God of Israel, and looked for him, he was found by them."
5"In those times there was no peace for the one who went out, nor for the one who came in. Great troubles came upon all the people of those lands."
6"Nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city. For God troubled them with every kind of hardship."
7"So be strong, and do not let your hands be weak. Your work will be rewarded."
8When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He put away the hateful idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities he had taken from mount Ephraim. He also made new the altar of the LORD that was in front of the porch of the LORD.
9He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them from Ephraim and Manasseh, and from Simeon. For great numbers came over to him out of Israel, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11At that time they offered to the LORD, from the plunder they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul.
13Whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14They swore to the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15All Judah was glad about the oath. For they had sworn with all their heart, and looked for him with their whole desire, and he was found by them. And the LORD gave them rest on every side.
16As for Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove. Asa cut down her idol, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.
17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel. Even so, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
18He brought into the house of God the things his father had set apart, and the things he himself had set apart: silver, and gold, and vessels.
19And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.