1 Kings
Chapter 15
1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, son of Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah.
2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
3 He followed all his father’s sins, which his father had done before him: and his heart was not fully faithful to God, unlike his father David’s heart.
4 Yet for David’s sake, God gave him a lasting presence in Jerusalem, to raise his son to follow him, and to secure Jerusalem.
5 Because David did what was right in God’s eyes and did not turn away from anything God commanded him all his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
6 Rehoboam and Jeroboam fought wars their whole lives.
7 The other things Abijam did and his actions are written in the Judah Kings’ Chronicles, right? Abijam and Jeroboam fought in a war.
8 Abijam died and was buried in the city of David, and his son Asa became the new king.
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam being king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah.
10 He ruled in Jerusalem for forty-one years. His mother was named Maachah, Abishalom’s daughter.
11 Asa did what was right in God’s eyes, just like his father David.
12 He removed the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made.
13 Asa also took his mother Maachah from her queen position because she made an idol in a sacred garden; and Asa broke her idol and burned it at Kidron Stream.
14 The high places weren’t taken away, but Asa was completely devoted to God all his life.
15 He brought the items his father and he had dedicated into God’s house, including silver, gold, and containers.
16 Asa and Baasha, the king of Israel, were at war for their whole lives.
17 Baasha, the king of Israel, attacked Judah and built Ramah to block anyone from leaving or entering Asa, the king of Judah’s territory.
18 Then Asa gathered all the silver and gold left in God’s house’s treasuries and the king’s house treasuries. He gave them to his servants, and Asa sent them to Benhadad, Tabrimon’s son, Hezion’s son, the king of Syria in Damascus, with a message.
19 We have an agreement between us and between our fathers. Look, I’ve sent you a gift of silver and gold. Come and end your agreement with Baasha king of Israel so he will leave me alone.
20 So Benhadad listened to King Asa, and sent his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abelbethmaachah, all of Cinneroth, and the whole region of Naphtali.
21 When Baasha heard about it, he stopped building Ramah and lived in Tirzah.
22 King Asa announced to all of Judah that no one was excused. They removed the stones and wood from Ramah that Baasha had used to build. With these, King Asa constructed Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah.
23 The other things Asa did, his power, his actions, and the cities he built, are they not recorded in the Judah kings’ history book? But when he was old, his feet became sick.
24 Asa died like his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David. His son Jehoshaphat became king after him.
25 Nadab, Jeroboam’s son, became king of Israel in Asa’s second year as king of Judah and ruled Israel for two years.
26 He did bad things before God, followed his father’s ways, and continued in his wrongdoing that led Israel to sin.
27 Baasha, Ahijah’s son from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab; Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, a city of the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were attacking Gibbethon.
28 In the third year of Asa’s rule as king of Judah, Baasha killed him and became king in his place.
29 When he became king, he struck down all of Jeroboam’s family. He did not leave anyone alive in Jeroboam’s family, fulfilling God’s word spoken by his servant Ahijah from Shiloh.
30 Because Jeroboam sinned and made Israel sin, making God angry.
31 The other things Nadab did, and all his actions, aren’t they recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
32 Asa and Baasha, the king of Israel, fought wars throughout their lives.
33 In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years.
34 He did wrong as God saw it, and followed Jeroboam’s sinful ways which led Israel to sin.