CHAPTER 15
1 Forsooth Azariah, the son of Oded, when the spirit of the Lord was come into him, (And Azariah, the son of Oded, after the spirit of the Lord came upon him,)
2 he went out into the meeting of Asa (or he went out to meet Asa); and said to him, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, hear ye me; the Lord is with you, for ye were with him; if ye seek him, ye shall find him; soothly if ye forsake him, he shall forsake you.
3 Forsooth many days shall pass in Israel without (the) very God, and without priest, and without teacher, and without law. (But many days have passed in Israel without the true God, and without a priest, and without a teacher, and without the Law.)
4 And when they turn again in their anguish, and cry to the Lord God of Israel, and seek him, they shall find him. (But when, in their anguish, they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and cried to him, and sought him, they found him.)
5 In that time [there] shall not be peace to go out and to go in, but dreads on all side(s) on all the dwellers of the land. (At that time there was no safety, or security, to come in or to go out, but fear was on all sides for all the inhabitants of the land.)
6 For folk shall fight against folk, and a city against a city, for the Lord shall disturb them in all anguish; (And nation fought against nation, and a city against a city, for the Lord troubled them with all kinds of anguish;)
7 but be ye comforted, and your hands be not slacked; for meed shall be to your work. (but be ye strengthened, and do not let your hands be limp; for your work shall be rewarded.)
8 And when Asa had heard this thing, that is, the words and [the] prophecy of Azariah, the son of Oded, the prophet, he was comforted, and he did away all the idols from all the land of Judah and of Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken of the hill of Ephraim. And he hallowed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the house of the Lord. (And when Asa had heard this, that is, the words and the prophecy of the prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, he was strengthened, or encouraged, and he did away all the idols from all the land of Judah and of Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was in front of the vestibule of the House of the Lord.)
9 And he gathered together all Judah and Benjamin, and with them the comelings of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, and of Simeon, (or and with them the newcomers from Ephraim, and Manasseh, and Simeon); for many of Israel, seeing that his Lord God was with him, fled over to him.
10 And when they had come into Jerusalem, in the third month, in the fifteen year of the realm of Asa,
11 they offered to the Lord in that day, both of the spoils and of the prey, which they had brought, seven hundred oxen, and seven thousand wethers. (they offered to the Lord on that day, out of the spoils and the prey, which they had brought back, seven hundred oxen, and seven thousand rams.)
12 And Asa entered by custom to make strong the bond of peace, that they should seek the Lord God of their fathers in all their heart, and in all their soul. (And they entered into a covenant, that they would seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all their soul.)
13 And the king said, If any man seeketh not the Lord God of Israel, die he, from the least unto the most, from man unto woman. (And that whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, from the least unto the most, man or woman.)
14 And all that were in Judah swore with cursing to the Lord, that is, obliging themselves to cursing and pain of death, if they did against the oath, with [a] great voice, in hearty song, and in sound of trump, and in sound of clarions; (And they swore an oath, or a pledge, to the Lord with a loud voice, and a hearty shout, and the sounding of trumpets and horns.)
15 for they swore in all their heart, and in all their will they sought him, and found him; and the Lord gave to them rest by compass. (And all who were in Judah had great joy over the pledge; for they swore with all their heart, and they sought him with all their will, and they found him; and the Lord gave them rest, or peace, all about.)
16 But also he put down Maachah, the (grand)mother of Asa the king, that is, his own (grand) mother, from the strait empire, for she had made in a wood a simulacrum, or a likeness, of a man’s rod; and he all-brake that simulacrum, and pounded it into gobbets, and burnt it in the strand of Kidron. (And Asa also removed his grandmother Maachah, from her place of honour, for she had made an image, (or a likeness), of a man’s rod in the forest or for she had made an obscene idol for the worship of Asherah; and he broke up that image, and pounded (it) into pieces, and burned it by the Kidron Stream or and burned it in the Kidron Gorge.)
17 But yet [the] high places were left in Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was rightful in all his days. (But yet there were still hill shrines in Israel; but Asa’s heart was upright in all his days.)
18 And he brought into the house of the Lord those things that his father [had] avowed, silver and gold, and diverse purtenance of vessels;
19 and battle was not unto the five and thirtieth year of the realm of Asa. (and there was no battlewith any nation until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.)