2 Chronicles 15

Asa’s Revival & A New Covenant

1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded.

2 He went out to meet Asa and told him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you ditch Him, He will ditch you!”

3 “For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach, and without Law.”

4 “But when they were in trouble, they turned back to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them.”

5 “In those times, nobody could go about their business safely, because major chaos was on all the people of the lands.”

6 “Nation was crashing into nation, and city into city, because God was hitting them with all kinds of trouble.”

7 “But you, be strong! Do not let your hands go weak, because your work is going to pay off!”

8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he got hyped and removed all the disgusting idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities he had captured In the hill country of Ephraim. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the Lord’s porch.

9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them, because a bunch of them had dipped from Israel to join him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

10 They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule.

11 And on that day, they sacrificed to the Lord from the plunder they brought: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

12 They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and all their soul.

13 Anyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, whether small or great, man or woman, would be put to death.

14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, and with trumpets and horns.

15 And all Judah was hyped about the oath, because they had sworn it with their whole heart and had sought Him with their whole desire, and He was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 King Asa even removed his grandma Maacah from her queen mother position, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah. Asa chopped down her image, ground it to dust, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

17 The high places were not removed from Israel, but Asa’s heart was fully committed all his days.

18 He brought into God’s temple the holy things that his pops had dedicated, and he himself dedicated silver, gold, and other treasures.

19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s rule.