3. For many years Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without instruction,
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 be discouraged, for your work has a reward.”
8. When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.
9. Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.