1 Kings 15

¹Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboʹam the son of Nebat, Abiʹjam began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maʹacah the daughter of Abishʹalom. ³And he walked in all the sins which his father did before him; and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. ⁴Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem; ⁵because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriʹah the Hittite. ⁶Now there was war between Rehoboʹam and Jeroboʹam all the days of his life. ⁷The rest of the acts of Abiʹjam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abiʹjam and Jeroboʹam. ⁸And Abiʹjam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead.

⁹In the twentieth year of Jeroboʹam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, ¹⁰and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maʹacah the daughter of Abishʹalom. ¹¹And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. ¹²He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³He also removed Maʹacah his mother from being queen mother because she had an abominable image made for Asheʹrah; and Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁴But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵And he brought into the house of the Lord the votive gifts of his father and his own votive gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.

¹⁶And there was war between Asa and Baʹasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷Baʹasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king 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; and King Asa sent them to Ben-haʹdad the son of Tabrimʹmon, the son of Heʹzion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, ¹⁹“Let there be a league between me and you, as between my father and your father: behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold; go, break your league with Baʹasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ²⁰And Ben-haʹdad hearkened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and conquered Ijon, Dan, Aʹbel-beth-maʹacah, and all Chinʹneroth, with all the land of Naphʹtali. ²¹And when Baʹasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and he dwelt in Tirzah. ²²Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baʹasha had been building; and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. ²³Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshʹaphat his son reigned in his stead.

²⁵Nadab the son of Jeroboʹam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

²⁷Baʹasha the son of Ahiʹjah, of the house of Isʹsachar, conspired against him; and Baʹasha struck him down at Gibʹbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibʹbethon. ²⁸So Baʹasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. ²⁹And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboʹam; he left to the house of Jeroboʹam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by his servant Ahiʹjah the Shiʹlonite; ³⁰it was for the sins of Jeroboʹam which he sinned and which he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.

³¹Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ³²And there was war between Asa and Baʹasha king of Israel all their days.

³³In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baʹasha the son of Ahiʹjah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboʹam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.