¹And the breath of God was upon Azariah the son of Oded.

²And he went forth before the face of Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you while you are with him; and if you inquire of him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

³And for many days Israel was without the God of stability, and without a priest who teaches, and without instruction.

⁴But in their tight place they turned back to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he let himself be found by them.

⁵And in those times there was no wholeness for the one who went out and for the one who came in, but great panics were over all who dwelled in the lands.

⁶And nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God threw them into turmoil with every distress.

⁷But you, be strong, and do not let your hands drop, for there is a reward for your work."

⁸And as Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded the prophet, he strengthened himself, and removed the detestable things from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had captured from the mountain of Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of Yahweh which was before the face of the porch of Yahweh.

⁹And he gathered together all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with them from Ephraim and Manasseh, and from Simeon; for they deserted to him from Israel in multitude when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.

¹⁰And they gathered together to Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the kingdom of Asa.

¹¹And they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the plunder they had brought: seven hundred cattle and seven thousand flock.

¹²And they went into the covenant to inquire of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their being.

¹³And all who would not inquire of Yahweh the God of Israel would be put to death, from small to great, from man to woman.

¹⁴And they swore an oath to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with horns.

¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had searched for him with all their will, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave them rest all around.

¹⁶And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen mother, because she had made an idol for an Asherah pole; and Asa cut down her idol, crushed it to dust, and burned it in the wadi of Kidron.

¹⁷But the high places were not removed from Israel; only the heart of Asa was complete all his days.

¹⁸He brought the holy things of his father and his own holy things into the house of God: silver and gold and utensils.

¹⁹And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.