1 Kings 15

1 And in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah son of Rehoboam became king over Judah. [a] 2 And he reigned six years. His mother’s name was Maacah, daughter of Absalom. [b] 3 And he walked in the sins of his father, which his father did before him, and his heart was not whole with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father was. [c]

4 For it was because of David that the Lord gave him a remnant, so that he might establish his children after him, and might establish Jerusalem — 5 since David did what was right before the Lord, and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him, all the days of his life. [d]

7 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and everything he did — look, are they not written in the book of the daily record of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. [e] 8 And Abijah slept with his fathers in the twenty-fourth year of Jeroboam, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. [f]

9 In the twenty-fourth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. 10 And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Ana, daughter of Absalom. [g] 11 And Asa did what was right before the Lord, as David his father did. 12 And he took the rites away out of the land, and he sent away all the practices that his fathers had made. [h]

13 And Ana his mother he removed, so that she should not be the leading woman, because she had held a gathering in her sacred grove; and Asa cut down her hidden places and burned them with fire at the brook Kidron. [i] 14 But the high places he did not take away; only, the heart of Asa was whole with the Lord all his days. 15 And he brought in the pillars of his father, and his own pillars he brought into the house of the Lord — pillars of silver and of gold — and vessels. [k]

16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built up Ramah, so that no one could go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 And Asa took the silver and the gold that was found in the treasuries of the king’s house, and gave them into the hands of his servants; and King Asa sent them to the son of Hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, [l] 19 “Make a covenant between me and you, and between my father and your father. See, I have sent you gifts of silver and gold. Come, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will go up away from me.”

20 And the son of Hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel; and he struck Ijon and Dan and Abel-maacah and all Chezrath, as far as the whole land of Naphtali. [n] 21 And when Baasha heard it, he stopped building Ramah and went back to Tirzah. 22 And King Asa gave orders to all Judah, to Ainakim; and they took up the stones of Ramah and its timbers, with which Baasha had been building, and King Asa built with them the whole hill of Benjamin, and the watchtower. [o]

23 And the rest of the acts of Asa, and all his might that he showed — look, are they not written in the book of the daily record of the kings of Judah? Only, in the time of his old age he became diseased in his feet. [p] 24 And Asa slept, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

25 And Nadab son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. [q] 26 And he did what was evil before the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sins, with which he made Israel sin. 27 And Baasha son of Ahijah besieged him at the house of Belaan and struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon. [r] 28 And Baasha put him to death in the third year of Asa son of Abijah king of Judah, and he became king. [s]

29 And when he became king, he struck down the house of Jeroboam, and he left nothing of Jeroboam’s that breathed, until he had destroyed him — according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by the hand of his slave Ahijah the Shilonite, [t] 30 because of the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel sin, and because of the anger he stirred up, with which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel. 31 And the rest of the acts of Nadab, and everything he did — look, are they not written in the book of the daily record of the kings of Israel?

33 And in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over Israel in Tirzah, twenty-four years. 34 And he did what was evil before the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and in his sins, with which he made Israel sin.