2 ChroniclesChapter 15
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1The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. 2So he went out to meet Asa. He said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you leave him, he will leave you. 3For a long time Israel was without the true God. They had no priest to teach them, and they had no law. 4But in their trouble they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel. They looked for him, and they found him. 5In those days it was not safe to travel, because the people who lived in the lands had a lot of fighting. 6One nation crushed another, and one city crushed another, for God troubled them with all kinds of hard times. 7But as for you, be strong. Do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." 8Asa heard these words and the message from Azariah son of Oded the prophet. Then he took courage. He got rid of the disgusting idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin. He also got rid of them from the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. Then he repaired the LORD's altar in front of the porch of the LORD's temple. 9He gathered all the people of Judah and Benjamin. He also gathered people from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who lived among them. For large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. 10So they gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's rule. 11At that time they sacrificed seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep to the LORD. These animals came from the loot they had brought back. 12Then they made a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. 13Anyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, would be put to death. This was true for young or old, man or woman. 14They made a promise to the LORD with a loud voice. They shouted and blew trumpets and rams' horns. 15All Judah was glad about the promise, because they had made it with all their heart. They had looked for God with all their might, and they found him. So the LORD gave them rest all around. 16King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother. She had made a disgusting Asherah pole. Asa cut down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 17The high places were not removed from Israel. But Asa's heart was fully true to the LORD all his life. 18He brought into God's house the silver and gold and the other items that he and his father had set apart for God. 19There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's rule.