3 And Samuel proceeded to say to all the house of Israel: “If it is with all YOUR heart YOU are returning to Jehovah,+ put away the foreign gods* from YOUR midst+ and also the Ashʹto·reth images,+ and direct YOUR heart unswervingly to Jehovah and serve him alone,+ and he will deliver YOU from the hand of the Phi·lisʹtines.”+

8 And as soon as Aʹsa heard these words and the prophecy of Oʹded+ the prophet, he took courage and proceeded to cause the disgusting things+ to vanish from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had captured from the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im,+ and to renew Jehovah’s altar that was before the porch of Jehovah.+