1 Kings 15:8–24

^8eAnd Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa Reigns in Judah

⁹In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, ¹⁰and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ^11fAnd Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. ¹²He put away the ^gmale cult prostitutes out of the land and removed ^hall the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³ⁱHe also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and ^jburned it at the brook Kidron. ^14kBut the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, ^lthe heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵And ^mhe brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁶ⁿAnd there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ^17oBaasha king of Israel went up against Judah and ^pbuilt Ramah, ^qthat he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and the gold ^rthat were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house and gave them into the hands of his servants. ^sAnd King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ^twho lived in Damascus, saying, ¹⁹“Let there be ^ua covenant¹ between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ²⁰And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered ^vIjon, ^wDan, ^xAbel-beth-maacah, and all ^yChinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹And when Baasha heard of it, ^zhe stopped building Ramah, and he lived in ^aTirzah. ²²Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them King Asa built ^bGeba of Benjamin and ^cMizpah. ^23dNow the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and ^eJehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.