1. The Ruach Elohim came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
2. He went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Listen to me Asa, all Judah and Benjamin. Adonai is with you as long as you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will spurn you.
3. For many days Israel was without the true God, without a teaching kohen and without Torah.
4. But in their distress they turned to Adonai, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them.
5. In those times there was no shalom for anyone coming or going, for there were many conflicts among all the inhabitants of the lands.
6. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.
7. But you, chazak! Do not let your hands be slack for there is reward for your labor.”
8. When Asa heard these words as well as the prophecy of the prophet Oded, he took courage and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that he had seized in the hill country of Ephraim. He also repaired Adonai’s altar that was in front of Adonai’s entryway.
9. He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those dwelling with them from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon—for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that Adonai his God was with him.
10. So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11. On that day they sacrificed to Adonai 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep from the spoil that they had brought.
12. They entered into a covenant to seek Adonai, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul.