1
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
2
And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, "Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found by you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.
3
Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law.
4
But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel and sought Him, He was found by them.
5
And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6
And nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city; for God vexed them with all adversity.
7
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work shall be rewarded."
8
And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD that was before the porch of the LORD.
9
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10
So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.