^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.

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Footnotes

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.”