God

"Let's build these cities," he said to Y'hudah; "we'll surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is there for us to use, because we have sought ADONAI our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side." So they built and prospered.

Asa cried out to ADONAI his God, "ADONAI, there is no one besides yourself, strong or weak, who can help. Help us, ADONAI our God, because we are relying on you, and we are coming against this vast throng in your name. You are ADONAI our God; don't let human beings stop you!"

So ADONAI struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Y'hudah, and the Ethiopians fled.

Asa and the army with him pursued them to G'rar, and the Ethiopians were defeated beyond recovery; they were shattered before ADONAI and his army, who carried off much spoil.

Then they attacked all the cities in the vicinity of G'rar, for a panic from ADONAI had overcome them. They plundered all the cities, for they were full of spoil.

The Spirit of God came on 'Azaryah the son of 'Oded;

he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Y'hudah and Binyamin! ADONAI is with you, as long as you are with him; if you seek him, you will find him; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you!

For a long time Isra'el was without the true God, without a cohen who could teach, and without Torah.

But when, in their distress, they turned to ADONAI the God of Isra'el and sought him, they found him.

so that they were shattered to pieces, nation against nation and city against city, as God troubled them with every kind of distress.

When Asa heard these words prophesied by 'Oded the prophet, it gave him courage to throw the disgusting things out of the whole land of Y'hudah and Binyamin and out of the cities he had captured in the hills of Efrayim; he also renewed the altar of ADONAI which was in front of the vestibule of ADONAI.

Then he gathered all Y'hudah and Binyamin, along with those from Efrayim, M'nasheh and Shim'on who were staying with him (for they had defected to him in large numbers upon seeing that ADONAI his God was with him).

That day they sacrificed to ADONAI 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought;

and they entered into a covenant to seek ADONAI, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their being;

[they also agreed] that whoever refused to seek ADONAI the God of Isra'el should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

They swore this to ADONAI in a loud voice, with shouting and blowing of trumpets and shofars.

All Y'hudah was full of joy at this oath; for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with all their will; and they found him, and ADONAI gave them rest all around.

He brought into the house of God all the articles his father had consecrated, also the things he himself had consecrated - silver, gold and utensils.

Then Asa removed silver and gold from the treasures of the house of ADONAI and the royal palace; and sent this message to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Dammesek:

It was around then that Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Y'hudah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Aram and didn't rely on ADONAI your God, the king of Aram's army has escaped from your power.

The army of the Ethiopians and Luvim was huge, wasn't it? How many chariots and horsemen did they have? Yet because you relied on ADONAI, he handed them over to you.

For the eyes of ADONAI move here and there throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those who are wholehearted toward him. You acted foolishly in this regard; for from now on, you will have war."

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a disease in his legs. It was a very serious disease, yet even with this disease he did not seek out ADONAI but turned to the physicians.

ADONAI was with Y'hoshafat, because he lived according to the first ways of his ancestor David, not seeking the ba'alim,

but seeking the God of his father and living by his mitzvot, not by what Isra'el did.