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Giovedi, 28 marzo 2024 - San Castore di Tarso ( Letture di oggi)

2 Chronicles 15


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1The spirit of God then came on Azariah son of Oded;2he went out to meet Asa and said, 'Listen to me, Asa, and all you in Judah and in Benjamin: Yahwehwil be with you so long as you are with him. If you seek him, he will let you find him; but if you desert him, he wildesert you.3For a long time Israel did not have the true God or a teacher-priest or a law,4but when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, God of Israel, and sought him, he let them find him.5In those times there was no security for people as they went about their business, but great unrestaffecting the inhabitants of all countries,6nation being crushed by nation and city by city, since God caused confusion among them by everykind of distress.7So be strong, do not be discouraged, for your deeds wil be rewarded.'8When Asa heard these words and the prophecy, he took courage and removed the abominable idolsthroughout the land of Judah and Benjamin as wel as from the towns which he had captured in the highlands ofEphraim, and repaired the altar of Yahweh which stood in front of the portico of Yahweh.9He summoned al Judah and Benjamin as wel as those Ephraimites, Manassehites and Simeoniteswho had settled with them -- for a great many people from Israel had gone over to Asa when they saw thatYahweh his God was with him.10They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign,11that day sacrificing to Yahweh seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the booty whichthey had brought back.12They then made a covenant to seek Yahweh, God of their ancestors, with al their heart and soul;13anyone who would not seek Yahweh, God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether high or low, manor woman.14They pledged their oath to Yahweh in ringing tones, with shouts of joy, to the sound of trumpet andhorn;15al Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it wholeheartedly, and sought him so earnestlythat he al owed them to find him; Yahweh gave them peace all round.16King Asa even deprived his mother Maacah of the dignity of Great Lady for having made anobscenity for Asherah; Asa cut down her obscenity, smashed it and burnt it in the ravine of the Kidron.17Though the high places were not abolished in Israel, Asa's heart was loyal throughout his life.18He deposited his father's and his own dedicated gifts of silver, gold and sacred vessels, in theTemple of Yahweh.19Up to the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign there was no war.