^16:1In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.¹^16:2Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message: ^16:3“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made.² See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.”³^16:4Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel.⁴ They conquered⁵ Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim,⁶ and all the storage cities of Naphtali. ^16:5When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying⁷ Ramah and abandoned the project.⁸^16:6King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah.⁹ He used the materials to build up¹⁰ Geba and Mizpah.

^16:7At that time Hanani the prophet¹¹ visited King Asa of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. ^16:8Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the Lord, he handed them over to you! ^16:9Certainly¹² the Lord watches the whole earth carefully¹³ and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him.¹⁴ You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war. ^16:10Asa was so angry at the prophet, he put him in jail.¹⁵ Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time.

Asa’s Reign Ends

^16:11The events of Asa’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.¹⁶^16:12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a foot disease.¹⁷ Though his disease was severe, he did not seek the Lord, but only the doctors.¹⁸^16:13Asa passed away¹⁹ in the forty-first year of his reign. ^16:14He was buried in the tomb he had carved out in the City of David.²⁰ They laid him to rest on a bier covered with spices and assorted mixtures of ointments. They made a huge bonfire to honor him.²¹

Jehoshaphat Becomes King

^17:1His son Jehoshaphat replaced him as king and solidified his rule over Israel.¹^17:2He placed troops in all of Judah’s fortified cities and posted garrisons² throughout the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had seized.

^17:3The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in his ancestor³ David’s footsteps at the beginning of his reign.⁴ He did not seek the Baals, ^17:4but instead sought the God of his ancestors⁵ and obeyed⁶ his commands, unlike the Israelites.⁷^17:5The Lord made his kingdom secure;⁸ all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he became very wealthy and greatly respected.⁹^17:6He was committed to following the Lord;¹⁰ he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

^17:7In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. ^17:8They were accompanied by the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah, and by the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ^17:9They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the scroll of the law of the Lord. They traveled to all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

^17:10The Lord put fear into all the kingdoms surrounding Judah;¹¹ they did not make war with Jehoshaphat. ^17:11Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat tribute, including a load of silver. The Arabs brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats from their flocks.

^17:12Jehoshaphat’s power kept increasing. He built fortresses and storage cities throughout Judah. ^17:13He had many supplies stored in the cities of Judah and an army of skilled warriors stationed in Jerusalem.¹²^17:14These were their divisions by families:

There were a thousand officers from Judah.¹³ Adnah the commander led 300,000 skilled warriors, ^17:15Jehochanan the commander led 280,000, ^17:16and Amasiah son of Zikri, who volunteered to serve the Lord, led 200,000 skilled warriors.

^17:17From Benjamin, Eliada, a skilled warrior, led 200,000 men who were equipped with bows and shields, ^17:18and Jehozabad led 180,000 trained warriors.

^17:19These were the ones who served the king, besides those whom the king placed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”
2 Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”
3 Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”
4 Heb “and Ben Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of the armies which belonged to him against the cities of Israel.”
5 Heb “They struck down.”
6 In the parallel passage in 1 Kgs 15:20, this city’s name appears as Abel Beth Maacah. These appear to be variant names for the same place.
7 Heb “building.”
8 Heb “and he caused his work to cease.”
9 Heb “and King Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built.”
10 Heb “and he built with them.”
11 Heb “the seer.”
12 Or “for.”
13 Heb “the eyes of the Lord move quickly through all the earth.”
14 Heb “to strengthen himself with their heart, [the one] complete toward him.”
15 Heb “and Asa was angry at the seer, and he put him [in] the house of stocks, because of his rage with him over this.”
16 Heb “Look, the events of Asa, the former and the latter, look, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.”
17 Heb “became sick in his feet.”
18 Heb “unto upwards [i.e., very severe [was] his sickness, and even in his sickness he did not seek the Lord, only the healers.
19 Heb “lay down with his fathers, and he died.”
20 The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
21 Heb “and they burned for him a large fire, very great.”
1 Heb “and strengthened himself over Israel.”
2 Or perhaps, “governors.”
3 Heb “father.”
4 Heb “for he walked in the ways of David his father [in] the beginning [times].”
5 Heb “fathers.”
6 Heb “walked in.”
7 Heb “and not like the behavior of Israel.”
8 Heb “established the kingdom in his hand.”
9 Heb “and he had wealth and honor in abundance.”
10 Heb “and his heart was high in the ways of the Lord.” Perhaps גָּבַהּ (gavah, “be high”) here means “be cheerful” ( ) or “be encouraged” ( 147 3.a).
11 Heb “and the terror of the Lord was upon all the kingdoms of the lands which were surrounding Judah.”
12 Heb “and many supplies were his in the cities of Judah, and men of war, warriors of skill in Jerusalem.” For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
13 Or perhaps “from Judah, commanders of the thousands.”