⁹In the twentieth year of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah; ¹⁰he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.^* ¹¹Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David had done.^* ¹²He put away the illicit priests out of the land and removed all the idols that his ancestors had made.^* ¹³He also removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for Asherah; Asa cut down her image and burned it at the Wadi Kidron.^* ¹⁴But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was true to the Lord all his days.^* ¹⁵He brought into the house of the Lord the votive gifts of his father and his own votive gifts—silver, gold, and utensils.^*

Alliance with Aram against Israel

¹⁶There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel all their days.^* ¹⁷King Baasha of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to King Asa of Judah.^* ¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that 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. King Asa sent them to King Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying,^* ¹⁹“Let there be an alliance between me and you, like that between my father and your father: I am sending you a present of silver and gold; go, break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.” ²⁰Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.^* ²¹When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and lived in Tirzah. ²²Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah; none was exempt: they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building; with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.^* ²³Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his power, all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet.^* ²⁴Then Asa slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his father David; his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him.^*

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Cross references

*v 2
*2 Chr 14:2
*1 Kings 14:24; 22:46
*Ex 32:20; 2 Chr 15:16–18
*v 3; 1 Kings 22:43; 2 Chr 15:17, 18
*1 Kings 7:51
*v 32
*Josh 18:25; 1 Kings 12:27; 2 Chr 16.1ff
*v 15; 1 Kings 11:23, 24; 2 Chr 16:2
*Judg 18:29; 2 Sam 20:14; 2 Kings 15:29
*Josh 21:17; 2 Chr 16:6
*2 Chr 16:11–14
*2 Chr 17:1