1 Reis 15

¹ In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.

² He ruled three years as king in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.

³ He was not completely loyal to Jehovah his God as his great-grandfather David had been. He committed the same sins as his father did.

⁴ For David's sake Jehovah his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising Abijam a son to rule after him to keep Jerusalem secure.

⁵ Jehovah did this because David had done what was right in Jehovah’s eyes. He obeyed his commandments, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ Abijam continued the war that Rehoboam and Jeroboam started. There was war throughout Abijam's lifetime.

⁷ Everything else that Abijah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

⁸ Then Abijam went to rest with his fathers, and they buried him in the earth in the town of David. Asa his son became king in his place.

⁹ Jeroboam had been king of Israel twenty years. Asa became king of Judah.

¹⁰ He was king for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹ Asa did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, as David his father did.

¹² He banished perverted persons from the land. He removed those used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods. He removed all the idols his fathers had made.

¹³ He would not let Maacah his mother be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah. Asa had the obscene image cut down and burned by the Kidron Stream.

¹⁴ The high places were not taken away. Nevertheless Asa’s heart was true to Jehovah all his life.

¹⁵ He brought into the Temple of Jehovah all the things he and his father made holy, silver and gold and vessels.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, through out their reigns.

¹⁷ And Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah. He fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or in to Asa the king of Judah.

¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and gold still stored in Jehovah’s Temple, and in the king's house, and delivered them, in the care of his servants, to Ben-hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Rezon, king of Aram, at Damascus. He said:

¹⁹ Let there be an agreement between us just as there was between my father and your father. I have sent you an offering of silver and gold. End your agreement with Baasha, king of Israel that he may give up attacking me.

²⁰ Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa’s request and sent his armies to attack Israel. He conquered Ijon and Dan and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth as far as the land of Naphtali.

²¹ When Baasha heard this he stopped fortifying Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah.

²² Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah. Every man came to carry away the stone and the timber Baasha used to fortify Ramah. King Asa used them for building Geba in the land of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

²³ The rest of the events of Asa’s reign, the extent of his power and the names of the cities he built are all recorded in the Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. His feet became diseased, as he grew old.

²⁴ So Asa went to rest with his fathers and was buried in the town of David his father. Jehoshaphat his son became king in his place.

²⁵ Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, became king over Israel in the second year that Asa was king of Judah; and he was king of Israel for two years.

²⁶ He did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. He copied the evil ways of his father. He made Israel sin so much that they provoked Jehovah to anger with their idols.

²⁷ And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the family of Issachar, made a secret design against him, attacking him at Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines. Nadab and the armies of Israel were making war on Gibbethon.

²⁸ In the third year of the rule of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha put him to death, and became king in his place.

²⁹ When he became king, he sent destruction on all the offspring of Jeroboam. He killed every person of the family of Jeroboam according to the word of Jehovah as stated by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.

³⁰ This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of Jehovah, the God of Israel, by the sins he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.

³¹ Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

³² King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war as long as they reigned.

³³ In the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel. He ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years.

³⁴ Like King Jeroboam before him, he sinned against Jehovah and led Israel into sin.