Daily Bread

Asa’s Reform^(A)

15 The Spirit of God came on^(B) Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you^(C) when you are with him.^(D) If you seek^(E) him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.^{(F) 3} For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach^(G) and without the law.^{(H) 4} But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him,^(I) and he was found by them. ⁵ In those days it was not safe to travel about,^(J) for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. ⁶ One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another,^(K) because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong^(L) and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”^(M)

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of^[a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols^(N) from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured^(O) in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar^(P) of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.

⁹ Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers^(Q) had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰ They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month^(R) of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder^(S) they had brought back. ¹² They entered into a covenant^(T) to seek the Lord,^(U) the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul. ¹³ All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death,^(V) whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴ They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God^(W) eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest^(X) on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah^(Y) from her position as queen mother,^(Z) because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah.^(AA) Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{(AB) 17} Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. ¹⁸ He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.^(AC)

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