1 Kings 15:8–24

⁸Abijam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. ^tHis son Asa became king in his place. ^u

Judah’s King Asa

⁹In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, ^vAsa became king of Judah ¹⁰and reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s ^wname was Maacah ^xdaughter ^yof Abishalom.

¹¹Asa did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, as his ancestor David had done. ^z12He banished the male cult prostitutes ^afrom the land and removed all of the idols that his fathers had made. ^b13He also ^cremoved his grandmother ^dMaacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it ^ein the Kidron Valley. ^f14The high places were not taken away; ^gbut Asa’s heart was completely devoted to the Lord his entire life. ^h15He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils. ⁱ

¹⁶There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. ^j17Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. ^kHe built Ramah ^lin order to deny anyone access to Judah’s King Asa. ¹⁸So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple ^mand the treasuries of the royal palace and put it into the hands of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad ⁿson of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, ^osaying, ¹⁹“There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. ^pLook, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel ^qso that he will withdraw from me.”

²⁰Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, ^rDan, ^sAbel-beth-maacah, ^tall Chinnereth, ^uand the whole land of Naphtali. ^v21When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. ^w22Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba ^xof Benjamin and Mizpah ^ywith them.

²³The rest of all the events of Asa’s reign, ^zalong with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ^aBut in his old age he developed a disease in his feet. ^b24Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his ancestor David. ^cHis son Jehoshaphat ^dbecame king in his place.