Revival under Asa

15 The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded.^{(A) 2} So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you^(B) when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you,^(C) but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.^{(D) 3} For many years Israel has been without the true God,^(E) without a teaching priest, and without instruction,^{(F) 4} but when they turned to the Lord God of Israel in their distress and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵ In those times there was no peace for those who went about their daily activities because the residents of the lands had many conflicts. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every possible distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong; don’t give up,^[a] for your work has a reward.”^(G)

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the abhorrent idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim.^(H) He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.^{(I) 9} Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.^(J)

¹⁰ They were gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from all the plunder they had brought.^{(K) 12} Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with all their heart and all their soul.^{(L) 13} Whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be put to death, young or old,^[b] man or woman.^{(M) 14} They took an oath to the Lord in a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with rams’ horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They had sought him with all sincerity, and he was found by them.^(N) So the Lord gave them rest on every side.^(O)

¹⁶ King Asa^(P) also removed Maacah, his grandmother,^[c](Q) from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image, then crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{(R) 17} The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholeheartedly devoted his entire life.^{[d] 18} He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into God’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

¹⁹ There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Asa’s Treaty with Aram

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa,^(S) Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. ² So Asa brought out the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent it to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “There’s a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go break your treaty with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies to the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim,^[e] and all the storage cities^[f] of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stopped his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

Hanani’s Rebuke of Asa

⁷ At that time, the seer Hanani^(T) came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Aram and have not depended on the Lord your God,^(U) the army of the king of Aram has escaped from you. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen?^(V) When you depended on the Lord, he handed them over to you.^{(W) 9} For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth^(X) to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him.^(Y) You have been foolish in this matter. Therefore, you will have wars from now on.” ¹⁰ Asa was enraged with the seer and put him in prison^[g] because of his anger over this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at that time.

Asa’s Death

¹¹ Note that the events^(Z) of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a disease in his feet, and his disease became increasingly severe. Yet even in his disease he didn’t seek the Lord but only the physicians. ¹³ Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ He was buried in his own tomb that he had made for himself in the city of David. They laid him out in a coffin that was full of spices and various mixtures of prepared ointments;^(AA) then they made a great fire in his honor.^(AB)

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me^(A) from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.”^[a](B)

Then a voice^(C) came from heaven: ^(D) “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”^(E)

²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰ Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for me, but for you.^{(F) 31} Now is the judgment of this world.^(G) Now the ruler of this world^(H) will be cast out.^{(I) 32} As for me, if I am lifted up^[b] from the earth I will draw all people to myself.”^{(J) 33} He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.^(K)

³⁴ Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever.^(L) So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man^(M) must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵ Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer.^(N) Walk while you have the light^(O) so that darkness doesn’t overtake you.^(P) The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going.^{(Q) 36} While you have the light,^(R) believe in the light so that you may become children of light.” Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.^(S)

Isaiah’s Prophecies Fulfilled

³⁷ Even though he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. ³⁸ This was to fulfill^(T) the word of Isaiah^(U) the prophet, who said:^[c]

³⁹ This is why they were unable to believe, because Isaiah also said:

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because^[f] he saw his glory^(AB) and spoke about him.

⁴² Nevertheless, many did believe in him even among the rulers,^(AC) but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue. ⁴³ For they loved human praise^(AD) more than praise from God.^(AE)

A Summary of Jesus’s Mission

⁴⁴ Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me^(AF) believes not in me, but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵ And the one who sees me sees him^(AG) who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep^(AH) them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world^(AI) but to save the world.^{(AJ) 48} The one who rejects me^(AK) and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: ^[g] The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.^{(AL) 49} For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father^(AM) himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said. ⁵⁰ I know that his command is eternal life.^(AN) So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”^(AO)