⁹In Jeroboam’s twentieth year as king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah. ¹⁰He ruled 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹Asa did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done. ¹²He forced the male temple prostitutes out of the land and got rid of the idols his father had made. ¹³He also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁴Although the illegal worship sites were not torn down, Asa remained committed to the Lord his entire life. ¹⁵He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver, the gold, and the utensils he and his father had set apart as holy.

King Asa’s War with King Baasha—2 Chronicles 15:19; 16:1–6, 11–14; 17:1

¹⁶There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel as long as they lived. ¹⁷King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah.

¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and turned them over to his officials. King Asa sent them to Damascus to Aram’s King Benhadad, son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion. ¹⁹He said, “There’s a treaty between you and me ⸤as⸥ there was between your father and my father. I’m sending you a present of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”

²⁰Benhadad did what King Asa requested. He sent his generals and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and the entire area around Chinneroth with the entire territory of Naphtali. ²¹When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and lived in Tirzah. ²²Then King Asa drafted everyone in Judah and excused no one. He made them carry the stones and lumber from Ramah. Baasha had been using those to fortify the city. King Asa used the materials to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah.

²³Isn’t everything else about Asa—all his heroic acts, everything he did, and the cities he fortified—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? But when he was old, he had a foot disease. ²⁴Asa lay down in death with his ancestors. He was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor, David. His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

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