4
But in their time of trouble they turned to the LORD, Israel's God. They sought him and found him!
5
At that time, it wasn't safe to travel because great turmoil affected all the inhabitants of the area.
6
Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, as God troubled them with every kind of problem.
7
But as for you, be brave and don't lose heart, because your work will be rewarded!"
Asa’s reforms
8 As soon as Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah, Oded's son, he felt brave and removed the detestable idols from all of Judah and Benjamin, as well as from the cities he had captured in Ephraim's highlands, and he repaired the LORD's altar that stood before the LORD's entrance hall.
9
Then Asa gathered all Judah and Benjamin, along with those who were living among them as immigrants from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, because many people from Israel had joined up with him when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10
They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's rule.
11
On that day they sacrificed to the LORD part of the loot they had taken: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12
They made a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and all their being.
13
They agreed that anyone who refused to seek the LORD, Israel's God, would be put to death, whether young or old, male or female.
14
They swore this to the LORD with a loud voice, shouts of joy, and blasts from trumpets and horns.