2 Chronicles 15-16

New Life Version

Asa Makes Changes

15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ² Azariah went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you look for Him, He will let you find Him. But if you leave Him, He will leave you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching religious leader, and without law. ⁴ But in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel. They looked for Him, and He let them find Him. ⁵ In those times there was no peace for him who went out, or for him who came in. For much trouble came to all the people of the lands. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God sent every kind of trouble upon them. ⁷ But you be strong. Do not lose strength of heart. For you will be paid for your work.”

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the words of Azariah the son of Oded, his heart became strong. He put away the sinful false gods from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He built again the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord’s house. ⁹ Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, who lived with them. For many had left Israel to come to him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule. ¹¹ They killed animals on the altar in worship to the Lord that day. They killed and gave 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep from the animals they had taken in battle. ¹² And they agreed to follow the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul. ¹³ Whoever would not follow the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴ They made a promise to the Lord with a loud voice, calling out and blowing horns. ¹⁵ All Judah was filled with joy because of the promise. For they had promised with their whole heart. They had looked for the Lord with a pure heart. And He let them find Him. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa even stopped his mother from being queen mother. Because she had made a sinful object of the false goddess Asherah. Asa cut down her sinful object. He crushed it and burned it at the Kidron River. ¹⁷ But the high places were not taken away from Israel. Yet Asa’s heart was without blame all his days. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the holy things of his father and his own holy things. He brought in silver and gold and the things used for the worship. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s rule.

Asa’s Agreement with Syria

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s rule, King Baasha of Israel came to fight against Judah. He began building a wall around Ramah to stop anyone from going out or coming in to King Asa of Judah. ² Then Asa took silver and gold from the store-rooms of the house of the Lord and the king’s house. He sent them to King Ben-hadad of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “Let there be an agreement between you and me, as between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold. Go and break your agreement with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me.” ⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa. He sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. They destroyed Ijon, Dan, Abelmaim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard about it, he stopped building the wall around Ramah. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all the people of Judah. And they carried away the stones and wood of the wall which Baasha had been building around Ramah. Asa used them to build Geba and Mizpah.

Hanani’s Words to Asa

⁷ At that time Hanani the man of God came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “You have put your trust in the king of Syria and not in the Lord your God. So the army of the king of Syria got away from you. ⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a very large army with war-wagons? But because you trusted in the Lord, He gave them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of the Lord move over all the earth so that He may give strength to those whose whole heart is given to Him. You have done a foolish thing. So from now on you will have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the man of God. He put him in prison because he was angry at him for this. And Asa made it hard for some of the people at the same time.

The End of Asa’s Rule

¹¹ Now the acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² A disease came into Asa’s feet in the thirty-ninth year of his rule. His disease was bad. But even in his disease, he did not trust in the Lord, but in the doctors. ¹³ So Asa slept with his fathers. He died in the forty-first year of his rule. ¹⁴ They buried him in his own grave which he had cut out for himself in the city of David. They laid him in the place of rest which he had filled with different kinds of spices mixed by those who work with perfumes. And they made a very big fire in his honor.