Asa Reigns over Judah

14 So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then ^(A)Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.

Asa Reigns in Judah^(B)

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, ³ for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and ^(C)the ^[a]high places, and ^(D)broke down the sacred pillars ^(E)and cut down the wooden images. ⁴ He commanded Judah to ^(F)seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. ⁵ He also removed the ^[b]high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. ⁶ And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him ^(G)rest. ⁷ Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸ And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried ^[c]shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew ^(H)bows; all these were mighty men of ^(I)valor.

^9 (J)Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^(K)Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa ^(L)cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is ^(M)nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and ^(N)in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”

¹² So the Lord ^(O)struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to ^(P)Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much ^[d]spoil. ¹⁴ Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for ^(Q)the fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much ^[e]spoil in them. ¹⁵ They also ^[f]attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

The Reforms of Asa

15 Now ^(R)the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ² And he went out ^[g]to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. ^(S)The Lord is with you while you are with Him. ^(T)If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but ^(U)if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. ^3 (V)For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a ^(W)teaching priest, and without ^(X)law; ⁴ but ^(Y)when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. ⁵ And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. ^6 (Z)So nation was ^[h]destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. ⁷ But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”

⁸ And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of ^[i]Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities ^(AA)which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule of the Lord. ⁹ Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and ^(AB)those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰ So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ^11 (AC)And they offered to the Lord ^[j]at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the ^[k]spoil they had brought. ¹² Then they ^(AD)entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; ^13 (AE)and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel ^(AF)was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴ Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and ^(AG)sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the Lord gave them ^(AH)rest all around.

¹⁶ Also he removed ^(AI)Maachah, the ^[l]mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of ^[m]Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron. ¹⁷ But ^(AJ)the ^[n]high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.

¹⁸ He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils. ¹⁹ And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.