2 Chronicles 15

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 The spirit of God then came on Azariah son of Oded;	1 Now Azariah, the son of Oded, had the Spirit of God within him.
2 he 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.	2 And he went out to meet Asa, and he said to him: “Listen to me, Asa and all of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you, because you have been with him. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
3 For a long time Israel did not have the true God or a teacher-priest or a law,	3 Then many days will pass in Israel, apart from the true God, and apart from a learned priest, and apart from the law.
4 but when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, God of Israel, and sought him, he let them find him.	4 And when, in their anguish, they will have returned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and will have sought him, they shall find him.
5 In those times there was no security for people as they went about their business, but great unrestaffecting the inhabitants of all countries,	5 In that time, there will be no peace for those who depart and those who enter. Instead, there will be terror on every side, among all the inhabitants of the lands.
6 nation being crushed by nation and city by city, since God caused confusion among them by everykind of distress.	6 For nation will fight against nation, and city against city. For the Lord will disturb them with every anguish.
7 So be strong, do not be discouraged, for your deeds wil be rewarded.'	7 But as for you, be strengthened, and do not let your hands be weakened. For there will be a reward for your work.”
8 When 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.	8 And when Asa had heard these particular words, and the prophecy of the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, he was strengthened, and he took away the idols from the entire land of Judah, and from Benjamin, and from the cities that he had seized of mount Ephraim, and he dedicated the altar of the Lord, which was before the portico of the Lord.
9 He 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.	9 And he gathered together all of Judah and Benjamin, and with them the new arrivals from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon. For many had fled to him from Israel, seeing that the Lord his God was with him.
10 They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign,	10 And when they had arrived in Jerusalem, in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa,
11 that day sacrificing to Yahweh seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the booty whichthey had brought back.	11 they immolated to the Lord on that day, from the best of the spoils and from the plunder that they had brought: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand rams.
12 They then made a covenant to seek Yahweh, God of their ancestors, with al their heart and soul;	12 And he entered, according to custom, in order to confirm the covenant, so that they would seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with their whole heart and with their whole soul.
13 anyone who would not seek Yahweh, God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether high or low, manor woman.	13 “But if anyone,” he said, “will not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, let him die, from the least even to the greatest, from man even to woman.”
14 They pledged their oath to Yahweh in ringing tones, with shouts of joy, to the sound of trumpet andhorn;	14 And they swore to the Lord, with a great voice, in jubilation, and with the blare of trumpets, and with the sound of horns,
15 al 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.	15 all who were in Judah swore with a curse. For with all their heart they swore, and with all their will they sought and found him. And the Lord granted rest on all sides to them.
16 King 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.	16 Then too, Maacah, the mother of king Asa, he deposed from the august authority, because she had made an idol of Priapus within a sacred grove. And he entirely crushed it, breaking it into pieces, and he burned it at the torrent Kidron.
17 Though the high places were not abolished in Israel, Asa's heart was loyal throughout his life.	17 But some high places were left in Israel. Even so, the heart of Asa was perfect during all his days.
18 He deposited his father's and his own dedicated gifts of silver, gold and sacred vessels, in theTemple of Yahweh.	18 And whatever his father or he himself had vowed, he brought into the house of the Lord: silver and gold, and vessels for various uses.
19 Up to the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign there was no war.	19 Truly, there was no war, until the thirty-fifth year of the kingdom of Asa.