Psalms 78:1

⁴“Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples.

³Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

⁴“I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind. ⁵You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart! ⁶Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.

¹God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

¹The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded. ²He went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law. ⁴But when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity. ⁷But you be strong! Don’t let your hands be slack, for your work will be rewarded.”

⁸When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the LORD’s altar that was before the LORD’s porch. ⁹He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. ¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹They sacrificed to the LORD in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. ¹²They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; ¹³and that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴They swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. ¹⁵All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then the LORD gave them rest all around.

¹⁶Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; so Asa cut down her image, ground it into dust, and burned it at the brook Kidron.

⁷“Hear, my people, and I will speak. Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.

¹Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, ²both low and high, rich and poor together. ³My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding.

³“Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁹He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

⁴Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.