09/05/2022
2 Chronicles 15
1 Now the Ruach of Yahweh came upon Azariah the son of Oded. 2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Yahudah and Benyamin. Yahweh is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Yahweh, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Yahweh, Yahweh will forsake you. 3 For a long time Yisra'el has been without the true Power, without a teaching cohanim, and without instructions; 4 but when in their trouble they turned to Yahweh the Power of Yisra'el, and sought Yahweh, Yahweh was found by them. 5 And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for Yahweh troubled them with every adversity. 7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”
8 And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Yahudah and Benyamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of Yahweh that was before the vestibule of Yahweh. 9 Then he gathered all Yahudah and Benyamin, and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Yisra'el when they saw that Yahweh his Power was with him.
10 So they gathered together at Yerushalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they offered to Yahweh at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought. 12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh their Power of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 and whoever would not seek Yahweh the Power of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 Then they took an oath before Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns. 15 And all Yahweh rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Yahweh with all their soul; and Yahweh was found by them, and Yahweh gave them rest all around.
16 Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not removed from Yisra'el. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.
18 He also brought into the house of Yahweh the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils. 19 And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
