Chapter 15

It was then that the spirit of the Lord moved Azarias, son of Oded, to prophesy.

He it was went out to meet Asa, and thus greeted him: Listen to me, Asa, listen to me, tribes of Juda and Benjamin. If the Lord declares for you, it is because you have declared yourselves for him; have recourse to him, and he is yours, forsake him, and you will find yourselves forsaken.

Israel he has abandoned; long must they wait without true God, true prophet or true law,

till affliction brings them back to the Lord, their own God, and they look for him again, and find him.

Meanwhile no peace, only constant marching to and fro; alarm of battle in the kingdoms all around,

nation fighting against nation, city against city, because the Lord would have them ever restless, ever in sore straits.

But you, take courage; never slacken your resolve; still for your loyal service you shall have reward.

Upon hearing the inspired words of this prophet, Azarias son of Oded, Asa’s courage rose; never an idol was left in Juda or Benjamin, or the cities he had recovered in the hill-country of Ephraim. He also dedicated anew the altar of the Lord before the temple porch,

summoning all Juda and Benjamin, and with them new-comers from Ephraim, Manasses and Simeon; not a few of these Israelites had transferred their allegiance to him, when they saw what favour he enjoyed with the Lord his God.

In the third month of Asa’s twenty-fifth year they assembled at Jerusalem,

and sacrificed to the Lord that day, out of their spoil and out of the cattle they had driven away, seven hundred bulls and seven thousand rams.

Then he set about solemnly ratifying the covenant which bound them to have recourse to the Lord God of their fathers, heart and soul.

Death to high or low, death to man or woman, Asa cried, that turns to any god save the Lord God of Israel!

Loud were their cries of acclaim, loud rang trumpet and horn, as the oath was taken,

binding every man in the territory of Juda under a curse. Loyally they swore, loyally kept their oath, nor did they turn to the Lord in vain; peace undisturbed on every frontier was their reward.

His own mother, Maacha, Asa deprived of her royal dignity, for making a forest shrine that had Priapus’ image in it; the image he broke, and burnt the fragments of it, and cast the ashes into the river Cedron.

He did not abolish the hill-shrines, but all his days his heart was true to the Lord;

and he enriched the Lord’s house with gold and silver and great array of other ornaments, some dedicated by his father, some in performance of his own vows.

And war there was none till Asa’s reign had reached its thirty-fifth year.