4 Seek the Lord and his *strength;

*seek his presence continually!

11 *Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually!

6 *"Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

4 *One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may *dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon *the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire* in his temple.

10 For a day *in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be *a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 You make known to me *the path of life;

in your presence there is *fullness of joy;

at your right hand are *pleasures forevermore.

17 *When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The Lord is near to *the brokenhearted

and saves *the crushed in spirit.

5 Let your reasonableness* be known to everyone. *The Lord is at hand;

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were *far off have been brought near *by the blood of Christ.

6 Surely* goodness and mercy* shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall *dwell* in the house of the Lord

*forever.*

18 "I will not leave you as orphans; *I will come to you.

57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. *May he not leave us or forsake us,

31 Nevertheless, *in your great mercies *you did not make an end of them or forsake them, *for you are a gracious and merciful God.

16 Now may *the Lord of peace himself *give you peace at all times in every way. *The Lord be with you all.

11 Finally, brothers,* rejoice. *Aim for restoration, comfort one another,**agree with one another, *live in peace; and the God of love and *peace will be with you.

13 *By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

18 *No one has ever seen God; *God the only Son, who* is at the Father’s side,**he has made him known.

28 *So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he *wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.*

9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, *‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

1 *The Spirit of God came* upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he 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. *If you seek him, he will be found by you, *but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 *For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 *but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace *to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 *But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, *for your work shall be rewarded."

8 As soon as Asa heard these words, *the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from *the cities that 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 all Judah and Benjamin, *and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day *from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 *And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, *should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, *and the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 *Even Maacah, *his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image *for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, *crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 *But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.