The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Second Book of Paralipomena
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Chapter 15
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1
It was then that the spirit of the Lord moved Azarias, son of Oded, to prophesy.
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He it was went out to meet Asa, and thus greeted him: Listen to me, Asa, listen to me, tribes of Juda and Benjamin. If the Lord declares for you, it is because you have declared yourselves for him; have recourse to him, and he is yours, forsake him, and you will find yourselves forsaken.
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Israel he has abandoned; long must they wait without true God, true prophet or true law,
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till affliction brings them back to the Lord, their own God, and they look for him again, and find him.
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Meanwhile no peace, only constant marching to and fro; alarm of battle in the kingdoms all around,
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nation fighting against nation, city against city, because the Lord would have them ever restless, ever in sore straits.
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But you, take courage; never slacken your resolve; still for your loyal service you shall have reward.

8
Upon hearing the inspired words of this prophet, Azarias son of Oded, Asa’s courage rose; never an idol was left in Juda or Benjamin, or the cities he had recovered in the hill-country of Ephraim. He also dedicated anew the altar of the Lord before the temple porch,
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summoning all Juda and Benjamin, and with them new-comers from Ephraim, Manasses and Simeon; not a few of these Israelites had transferred their allegiance to him, when they saw what favour he enjoyed with the Lord his God.
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In the third month of Asa’s twenty-fifth year they assembled at Jerusalem,
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and sacrificed to the Lord that day, out of their spoil and out of the cattle they had driven away, seven hundred bulls and seven thousand rams.
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Then he set about solemnly ratifying the covenant which bound them to have recourse to the Lord God of their fathers, heart and soul.
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Death to high or low, death to man or woman, Asa cried, that turns to any god save the Lord God of Israel!
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Loud were their cries of acclaim, loud rang trumpet and horn, as the oath was taken,
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binding every man in the territory of Juda under a curse. Loyally they swore, loyally kept their oath, nor did they turn to the Lord in vain; peace undisturbed on every frontier was their reward.

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His own mother, Maacha, Asa deprived of her royal dignity, for making a forest shrine that had Priapus’ image in it; the image he broke, and burnt the fragments of it, and cast the ashes into the river Cedron.
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He did not abolish the hill-shrines, but all his days his heart was true to the Lord;
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and he enriched the Lord’s house with gold and silver and great array of other ornaments, some dedicated by his father, some in performance of his own vows.
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And war there was none till Asa’s reign had reached its thirty-fifth year.