1
The Spirit of Elohim came on Azaryahu the son of Oded:
2
and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Yehudah and Binyamin! The Yahuah 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.
3
Now for a long time Yisra’el was without the true Elohim, and without a teaching kohen, and without Torah.
4
But when in their distress they turned to the Yahuah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, and sought him, he was found by them.
5
In 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.
6
They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for Elohim troubled them with all adversity.
7
But you be strong, and do not let your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded."
8
When 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 Yehudah and Binyamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Efrayim; and he renewed the altar of the Yahuah, that was before the porch of the Yahuah.
9
He gathered all Yehudah and Binyamin, and those who lived with them out of Efrayim and Menasheh, and out of Shim’on: for they fell to him out of Yisra’el in abundance, when they saw that the Yahuah his Elohim was with him.
10
So they gathered themselves together at Yerushalayim in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11
They sacrificed to the Yahuah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.
12
They entered into the Covenant to seek the Yahuah, the Elohim of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
13
and that whoever would not seek the Yahuah, the Elohim of Yisra’el, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14
They swore to the Yahuah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15
All Yehudah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Yahuah gave them rest all around.
16
Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
17
But the high places were not taken away out of Yisra’el: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
18
He brought into Elohim's house the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
19
There was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.