2 Chronicles 15

English Standard Version

Asa's Religious Reforms

15 ^(A)The Spirit of God came^[a] upon Azariah the son of Oded, ²and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^(B)The Lord is with you while you are with him. ^(C)If you seek him, he will be found by you, ^(D)but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³^(E)For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, ⁴^(F)but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵In those times there was no peace ^(G)to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. ⁷^(H)But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, ^(I)for your work shall be rewarded.”

⁸As soon as Asa heard these words, ^(J)the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ^(K)the cities that he had taken in ^(L)the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord ^(M)that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.^[b] ⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, ^(N)and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹They sacrificed to the Lord on that day ^(O)from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. ¹²^(P)And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, ¹³but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(Q)should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. ¹⁵And 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, ^(R)and the Lord gave them rest all around.

¹⁶^(S)Even Maacah, ^(T)his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image ^(U)for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, ^(V)crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷^(W)But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 15:1 Or was
2 Chronicles 15:8 Hebrew the vestibule of the Lord

Isaiah 45

English Standard Version

Cyrus, God's Instrument

45 Thus says the Lord to ^(A)his anointed, to Cyrus,
    ^(B)whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
    and ^(C)to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
    that gates may not be closed:
²“I will go before you
    and ^(D)level the exalted places,^[a]
^(E)I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
    and cut through the bars of iron,
³^(F)I will give you the treasures of darkness
    and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
    the God of Israel, ^(G)who call you by your name.
⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,
    and Israel my chosen,
^(H)I call you by your name,
    ^(I)I name you, though you do not know me.
⁵^(J)I am the Lord, and there is no other,
    besides me there is no God;
    ^(K)I equip you, though you do not know me,
⁶^(L)that people may know, from the rising of the sun
    and from the west, that there is none besides me;
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and ^(M)create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

⁸^(N)“Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and ^(O)let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
    let the earth cause them both to sprout;
    I the Lord have created it.

⁹^(P)“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
    a pot among earthen pots!
^(Q)Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
    or ‘Your work has no handles’?
¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
    or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

¹¹Thus says ^(R)the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
^(S)“Ask me of things to come;
    will you command me ^(T)concerning my children and ^(U)the work of my hands?^[b]
¹²^(V)I made the earth
    and created man on it;
it was my hands ^(W)that stretched out the heavens,
    and ^(X)I commanded all their host.
¹³^(Y)I have stirred him up in righteousness,
    ^(Z)and I will make all his ways level;
^(AA)he shall build my city
    ^(AB)and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
    says the Lord of hosts.

The Lord, the Only Savior

¹⁴Thus says the Lord:
^(AC)“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
    and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you ^(AD)and be yours;
    they shall follow you;
    they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will plead with you, saying:
    ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,
    no god besides him.’”

¹⁵^(AE)Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
    O God of Israel, the Savior.
¹⁶^(AF)All of them are put to shame and confounded;
    the makers of idols go in confusion together.
¹⁷But Israel is saved by the Lord
    with everlasting salvation;
^(AG)you shall not be put to shame or confounded
    to all eternity.

¹⁸^(AH)For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
    (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
    (he established it;
he ^(AI)did not create it empty,
    ^(AJ)he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
¹⁹^(AK)I did not speak in secret,
    in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
    ^(AL)‘Seek me in vain.’^[c]
I the Lord speak ^(AM)the truth;
    I declare what is right.

²⁰^(AN)“Assemble yourselves and come;
    draw near together,
    you survivors of the nations!
^(AO)They have no knowledge
    who ^(AP)carry about their wooden idols,
^(AQ)and keep on praying to a god
    that cannot save.
²¹^(AR)Declare and present your case;
    let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
    Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God ^(AS)and a Savior;
    there is none besides me.

²²“Turn to me and be saved,
    ^(AT)all the ends of the earth!
    For I am God, and there is no other.
²³^(AU)By myself I have sworn;
    from my mouth has gone out in ^(AV)righteousness
    a word that shall not return:
^(AW)‘To me every knee shall bow,
    every tongue shall swear allegiance.’^[d]

²⁴^(AX)“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
    are righteousness and ^(AY)strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
    ^(AZ)all who were incensed against him.
²⁵In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
    shall be justified and shall glory.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 45:2 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint level the mountains
Isaiah 45:11 A slight emendation yields will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?
Isaiah 45:19 Hebrew in emptiness
Isaiah 45:23 Septuagint every tongue shall confess to God