Azariah’s Word and the Covenant at Jerusalem
1It was on Azariah son of Oded that the spirit of God came. 2He went out to meet Asa and said to him: “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will let himself be found by you; if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3Israel went many days with no true God, no priest to give instruction, and no law. 4But in their distress they turned back to Yahweh, the God of Israel; they sought him, and he let himself be found by them. 5In those times there was no safety for anyone going out or coming in, for great turmoil lay on all who inhabited those lands. 6Nation was crushed by nation and town by town, for God threw them into confusion with every kind of distress. 7But you — be strong, and do not let your hands hang slack, for your work has its reward.” 8When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He swept the detestable idols out of the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of Yahweh that stood in front of the portico of Yahweh. 9He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, together with those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who were living among them — for great numbers from Israel had come over to him when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. 10In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign they assembled at Jerusalem, 11and that day they sacrificed to Yahweh from the plunder they had brought in: seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. 12They bound themselves by covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, with their whole heart and their whole soul, 13and whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, was to die — small or great alike, man or woman. 14They swore to Yahweh at the top of their voices, with shouting, with trumpets and with rams’ horns. 15All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their heart and had sought him with all their will; and he let himself be found by them, and Yahweh gave them rest on every side. 16King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from her rank as queen mother, because she had made an obscene image for Asherah. Asa cut her image down, ground it to powder and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 17The high places were not removed from Israel; yet Asa’s heart was undivided all his days. 18Into the house of God he brought the dedicated gifts of his father and his own: silver, gold and vessels. 19And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
