Abijam Rules Judah

15 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nabat, Abijam became king over Judah. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ³ And he walked in all the sins which his father had done before him. He was not faithful to the Lord with all his heart, like the heart of his father David. ⁴ But the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem because of David. He gave him a son to rule after him and to keep Jerusalem strong. ⁵ Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from anything the Lord told him to do all the days of his life, except in what happened with Uriah the Hittite. ⁶ And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijam died and they buried him in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place.

Asa Rules Judah

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah. ¹⁰ He ruled for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹ And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father. ¹² He sent away the men from the land who sold the use of their bodies in their religion. He took away all the false gods his father had made. ¹³ He stopped his mother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made a hated object of the false goddess Asherah. And Asa cut down her hated object and burned it at the river Kidron. ¹⁴ The high places were not taken away. But Asa was faithful to the Lord with all his heart for all his days. ¹⁵ He brought into the house of the Lord the holy things of his father and his own holy things, silver, gold, and holy objects.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷ Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah. He built walls around Ramah to stop anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and the gold which were left in the storerooms of the Lord’s house and the king’s house, and gave them to his servants. King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus. Asa said, ¹⁹ “Let there be an agreement of peace between me and you, as between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your agreement of peace with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will leave me.” ²⁰ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He destroyed Ijon, Dan, Abel-bethmaacah, all Chinneroth, and all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard about it, he stopped building a wall around Ramah, and stayed in Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa made the news known to all Judah. There was no one who did not hear it. They carried away the stones of Ramah and its pieces of wood with which Baasha had built. And King Asa used them to build Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

²³ Now the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his strength and all he did and the cities he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But when he was old he had a disease in his feet. ²⁴ Asa died and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. His son Jehoshaphat ruled in his place.