4. But whenever trouble came, Israel turned back to the Lord their God and worshipped him.
5. There was so much confusion in those days that it wasn't safe to go anywhere in Israel.
6. Nations were destroying each other, and cities were wiping out other cities, because God was causing trouble and unrest everywhere.
7. So you must be brave. Don't give up! God will honour you for obeying him.
8. As soon as Asa heard what Azariah the prophet said, he gave orders for all the idols in Judah and Benjamin to be destroyed, including those in the towns he had captured in the territory of Ephraim. He also repaired the Lord's altar that was in front of the temple porch.
9. Asa called together the people from Judah and Benjamin, as well as the people from the territories of Ephraim, West Manasseh, and Simeon who were living in Judah. Many of these people were now loyal to Asa, because they had seen that the Lord was with him.
10. In the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's rule, they all met in Jerusalem.
11. That same day, they took seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats from what they had brought back from Gerar and sacrificed them as offerings to the Lord.