Asa Destroys the Idols in Judah
1 Some time later, God spoke to Azariah son of Oded. 2 At once, Azariah went to Asa and said:
Listen to me, King Asa and you people of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord will be with you and help you, as long as you obey and worship him. But if you disobey him, he will desert you.
3 For a long time, the people of Israel did not worship the true God or listen to priests who could teach them about God. They refused to obey God's Law. 4 But whenever trouble came, Israel turned back to the Lord their God and worshiped him.
5 There was so much confusion in those days that it wasn't safe to go anywhere in Israel. 6 Nations were destroying each other, and cities were wiping out other cities, because God was causing trouble and unrest everywhere.
7 So you must be brave. Don't give up! God will honor you for obeying him.
8 As soon as Asa heard what Azariah the prophet said, he gave orders for all the idols in Judah and Benjamin to be destroyed, including those in the towns he had captured in the territory of Ephraim. He also repaired the Lord's altar that was in front of the temple porch.
9 Asa called together the people from Judah and Benjamin, as well as the people from the territories of Ephraim, West Manasseh, and Simeon who were living in Judah. Many of these people were now loyal to Asa, because they had seen that the Lord was with him.
10 In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's rule, they all met in Jerusalem. 11 That same day, they took 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep and goats from what they had brought back from Gerar and sacrificed them as offerings to the Lord. 12 They made a solemn promise to faithfully worship the Lord God their ancestors had worshiped, 13 and to put to death anyone who refused to obey him. 14 The crowd solemnly agreed to keep their promise to the Lord, then they celebrated by shouting and blowing trumpets and horns. 15 Everyone was happy because they had made this solemn promise, and in return, the Lord blessed them with peace from all their enemies.
16 Asa's grandmother Maacah had made a disgusting idol of the goddess Asherah, so he cut it down, crushed it, and burned it in Kidron Valley. Then he removed Maacah from her position as queen mother. 17 As long as Asa lived, he was faithful to the Lord, even though he did not destroy the local shrines in Israel. 18 He placed in the temple all the silver and gold objects that he and his father had dedicated to God.
19 There was peace in Judah until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's rule.
1 Then the Spirite of God came vpon Azariah the sonne of Obed. 2 And he went out to meete Asa, and said vnto him, O Asa, and all Iudah, and Beniamin, heare ye me. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him: and if ye seeke him, he wil be founde of you, but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 Nowe for a long season Israel hath bene without the true God, and without Priest to teach and without Lawe. 4 But whosoeuer returned in his affliction to the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was founde of them. 5 And in that time there was no peace to him, that did goe out and goe in: but great troubles were to all the inhabitants of the earth. 6 For nation was destroyed of nation, and citie of citie: for God troubled them with all aduersitie. 7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your handes be weake: for your worke shall haue a rewarde. 8 And when Asa heard these wordes, and the prophesie of Obed the Prophet, he was encouraged, and tooke away the abominations out of all the lande of Iudah, and Beniamin, and out of the cities which he had taken of mount Ephraim, and he renued the altar of the Lord, that was before the porche of the Lord. 9 And he gathered all Iudah and Beniamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for there fell many to him out of Israel, when they sawe that the Lord his God was with him. 10 So they assembled to Ierusalem in the third moneth, in the fifteenth yere of the reigne of Asa. 11 And they offred vnto the Lord the same time of the spoyle, which they had brought, euen seuen hundreth bullockes, and seuen thousande sheepe. 12 And they made a couenant to seeke the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soule. 13 And whosoeuer will not seeke the Lord God of Israel, shalbe slaine, whether he were small or great, man or woman. 14 And they sware vnto the Lord with a loude voyce, and with shouting and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15 And all Iudah reioyced at the othe: for they had sworne vnto the Lord with all their heart, and sought him with a whole desire, and he was founde of them. And the Lord gaue them rest rounde about. 16 And King Asa deposed Maachah his mother from her regencie, because she had made an idole in a groue: and Asa brake downe her idole, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brooke Kidron. 17 But the hie places were not taken away out of Israel: yet the heart of Asa was perfit all his dayes. 18 Also he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicate, and that he had dedicate, siluer, and golde, and vessels. 19 And there was no warre vnto the fiue and thirtieth yeere of the reigne of Asa.