The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Chronicles 15
1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the
son of Oded.
2 He went out to meet Asa, and said to
him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and
Benjamin! Yahweh 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 Israel was without
the true God, without a teaching priest,
and without law.
4 But when in their distress they turned
to Yahweh, the God of Israel, 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
God troubled them with all adversity.
7 But you be strong! Don’t let your hands
be slack, for your work will 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 Judah and Benjamin,
and out of the cities which he had taken
from the hill country of Ephraim; and he
renewed Yahweh’s altar that was before
Yahweh’s porch.
9 He 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 Yahweh his God was
with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together
at Jerusalem in the third month, in the
fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.
11 They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day,
of the plunder which they had brought,
seven hundred head of cattle and seven
thousand sheep.
12 They entered into the covenantto seek
Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all
their heart and with all their soul;
13 and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to
death, whether small or great, whether
man or woman.
14 They swore to Yahweh with a loud
voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and
with cornets.
15 All 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 Yahweh gave them
rest all around.
16 Also 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
burned it at the brook Kidron.
17 But the high places were not taken
away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart
of Asa was perfect all his days.
18 He brought the things that his father had dedicated and that he
himself had dedicated, silver, gold, and vessels into God’s
house.
19 There was no more war to the thirtyfifth year of Asa’s reign.