Asa Removes Maacah and Renews the Covenant

The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet King Asa as the king returned from a campaign. Azariah did not speak in riddles. He told Asa and all Judah and Benjamin plainly: the Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found. If you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Azariah then reminded them of a hard period in Israel's past. For a long season, he said, Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law. In those days, when the people turned to the Lord in their distress and sought him, he was found by them. But before that turning, there was no peace for anyone who went out or came in. Great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. Nation was broken against nation, city against city, for God vexed them with every kind of adversity.

Then Azariah gave a command: be strong, and do not let your hands be slack. Your work shall be rewarded. That was the prophecy of Oded the prophet, and Asa heard it.

Asa took courage. He put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim. He renewed the altar of the Lord that stood before the porch of the Lord's house.

He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, along with the sojourners who had come to him out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. Many fell to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign.

That day they sacrificed to the Lord from the spoil they had brought: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. The terms were severe: whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

They swore to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire. He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.

Asa also removed Maacah, his own mother, from being queen because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. He cut down her image, ground it to dust, and burned it at the brook Kidron. The high places were not taken away out of Israel, but Asa's heart was perfect all his days.

He brought into the house of God the things his father had dedicated and the things he himself had dedicated: silver, gold, and vessels. There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.