¹The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded .

²He went out to meet Asa, and said to him , “Hear me , Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin ! The LORD is with you while you are with him ; and if you seek him , he will be found by you ; but if you forsake him , he will forsake you .

³Now for a long time Israel was without the true God , without a teaching priest , and without law .

⁴But when in their distress they turned to the LORD , the God of Israel , and sought him , he was found by them .

⁵In those times there was no peace to him who went out , nor to him who came in ; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶They were broken in pieces , nation against nation , and city against city ; for God troubled them with all adversity .

⁷But you be strong ! Don’t let your hands be slack , for your work will be rewarded .”

⁸When 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 LORD ’s altar that was before the LORD ’s porch.

⁹He gathered all Judah and Benjamin , and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh , and Simeon ; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the LORD his God was with him .

¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month , in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign .

¹¹They sacrificed to the LORD in that day , of the plunder which they had brought , seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep .

¹²They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD , the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul ;

¹³and that whoever would not seek the LORD , the God of Israel , should be put to death , whether small or great , whether man or woman.

¹⁴They swore to the LORD with a loud voice , with shouting , with trumpets , and with cornets .

¹⁵All Judah rejoiced at the oath , for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire ; and he was found by them . Then the LORD gave them rest all around .

¹⁶Also Maacah , the mother of Asa the king , he removed from being queen mother , because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; so Asa cut down her image , ground it into dust , and burnt it at the brook Kidron .

¹⁷But the high places were not taken away out of Israel ; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days .

¹⁸He brought the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated , silver , gold , and vessels into God’s house .

¹⁹There was no more war to the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign .