2 Chronicles 15-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

15 The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.^{(A) 2} He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.^{(B) 3} For a long time Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law,^{(C) 4} but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.^{(D) 5} In those times it was not safe for anyone to go or come, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.^{(E) 6} They were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.^{(F) 7} But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”^(G)

⁸ When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded,^[a] he took courage and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.^{[b](H) 9} He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing as aliens with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.^{(I) 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, from the spoil that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.^{(J) 12} They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul,^{(K) 13} and whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.^{(L) 14} They took an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. ¹⁵ 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, and the Lord gave them rest all around.^(M)

¹⁶ King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the Wadi Kidron.^{(N) 17} But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was true all his days. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the votive gifts of his father and his own votive gifts: silver, gold, and utensils. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Alliance with Aram Condemned

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming into the territory of^[c] King Asa of Judah.^{(O) 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 King Ben-hadad of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying, ³ “Let there be an alliance between me and you, like that between my father and your father; I am sending to you silver and gold; go, break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.^{(P) 5} When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you.^{(Q) 8} Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.^{(R) 9} For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth to strengthen those whose heart is true to him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”^{(S) 10} Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks, in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties on some of the people at the same time.

Asa’s Disease and Death

¹¹ The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.^{(T) 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.^{(U) 13} Then Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.^{(V) 14} They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.^(W)