And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law:
but when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
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 lands.
And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity.
But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.
And when Asa heard these words, {Or, even}and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah.
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned 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 Jehovah his God was with him.
So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
And they sacrificed unto Jehovah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about.
And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being {Or, queen mother}queen, because she had made an abominable image {Or, for Asherah}for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.
Querverweise zu 2. Chronika 15,16 2Chr 15,16
And also Maacah his mother he removed from being {Or, queen mother}queen, because she had made an abominable image {Or, for Asherah}for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Jehovah all his days.
And he brought into the house of Jehovah the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
{Or, Let there be}There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.
Then king Asa made a proclamation unto all Judah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built therewith Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.
Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
Three years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was {In 2 Chronicles 13:2, Micaiah the daughter of Uriel.}Maacah the daughter of {In 2 Chronicles 11:20, 21, Absolom.}Abishalom.
for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the {Or, obelisks}pillars, and hewed down the Asherim,
and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the {Or, obelisks}pillars, and hewed down the Asherim,
and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.
And he said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.
And he brake down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you.
Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him;Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,Nor knew he his own children:For they have observed thy word,And keep thy covenant.
But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their {Or, obelisks}pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
And when his friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and become a devoted thing like unto it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
And there come his mother and his brethren; and, standing without, they sent unto him, calling him.
And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren?
And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren!
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Jehovah all his days.
And he brought into the house of Jehovah the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
{Or, Let there be}There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.
Then king Asa made a proclamation unto all Judah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built therewith Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.
Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of the {Hebrew: children of the people.}common people.
And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, did the king break down, and {Or, ran from thence}beat them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he brake down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.