2Ch 15-16 | ESV | STEP | The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded ,

2 Chronicles 15

Asa’s Religious Reforms

1 ^aThe Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^bThe Lord is with you while you are with him. ^cIf you seek him, he will be found by you, ^dbut if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 ^eFor a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 ^fbut when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace ^gto him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 ^hBut you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, ⁱfor your work shall be rewarded.”

8 As soon as Asa heard these words, ^jthe prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ^kthe cities that he had taken in ^lthe hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord ^mthat was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord. ^{▼▼Hebrew the vestibule of the Lord} 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, ^oand those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day ^pfrom the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 ^qAnd they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^rshould be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, ^sand the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 ^tEven Maacah, ^uhis mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image ^vfor Asherah. Asa cut down her image, ^wcrushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 ^xBut the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

2 Chronicles 16

Asa’s Last Years

1 ^yIn the ^zthirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, ^aathat he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3 “There is a covenant ^{▼▼Or treaty; twice in this verse} between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the ^acstore cities of Naphtali. 5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time ^adHanani ^aethe seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ^af“Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. 8 Were not ^agthe Ethiopians and ^ahthe Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^aibecause you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. 9 ^ajFor the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those ^akwhose heart is blameless ^{▼▼Or whole} toward him. ^amYou have done foolishly in this, for from now on ^anyou will have wars.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him ^aoin the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

11 ^apThe acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. 13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier ^aqthat had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, ^arand they made a very great fire in his honor.