1Ki 15:8-23, 2Ch 14-16 | ESV | STEP | And Abijam slept with his fathers , and they buried him in the city of David . And Asa his son reigned in his place .

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

16 ^jAnd there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 ^kBaasha king of Israel went up against Judah and ^lbuilt Ramah, ^mthat he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold ⁿthat 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. ^oAnd King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ^pwho lived in Damascus, saying, 19 “Let there be ^qa covenant ^{▼▼Or treaty; twice in this verse} between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 20 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered ^sIjon, ^tDan, ^uAbel-beth-maacah, and all ^vChinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 And when Baasha heard of it, ^whe stopped building Ramah, and he lived in ^xTirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them King Asa built ^yGeba of Benjamin and ^zMizpah. 23 ^aaNow the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that 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.

2 Chronicles 14

Asa Reigns in Judah

1 ^{▼▼Ch 13:23 in Hebrew} ^acAbijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. 2 ^{▼▼Ch 14:1 in Hebrew} And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He took away the foreign altars ^aeand the high places and broke down ^afthe pillars and cut down the ^agAsherim 4 and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. 5 He also took out of all the cities of Judah ^ahthe high places and the ^aiincense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. 6 He built ^ajfortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, ^akfor the Lord gave him peace. 7 And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with ^alwalls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, ^amand he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army of ^an300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

9 Zerah ^aothe Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as ^apMareshah. 10 And Asa went out to meet him, and ^aqthey drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at ^arMareshah. 11 And Asa ^ascried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, ^atfor we rely on you, ^auand in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” 12 ^avSo the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^awGerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah ^{▼▼Hebrew They} carried away very much spoil. 14 And they attacked all the cities around ^ayGerar, ^azfor the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. 15 And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 15

Asa’s Religious Reforms

1 ^baThe Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^bbThe Lord is with you while you are with him. ^bcIf you seek him, he will be found by you, ^bdbut if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 ^beFor a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 ^bfbut when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace ^bgto him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 ^bhBut you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, ^bifor your work shall be rewarded.”

8 As soon as Asa heard these words, ^bjthe prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ^bkthe cities that he had taken in ^blthe hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord ^bmthat was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord. ^{▼▼Hebrew the vestibule of the Lord} 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, ^boand those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day ^bpfrom the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 ^bqAnd they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^brshould be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, ^bsand the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 ^btEven Maacah, ^buhis mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image ^bvfor Asherah. Asa cut down her image, ^bwcrushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 ^bxBut the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

2 Chronicles 16

Asa’s Last Years

1 ^byIn the ^bzthirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, ^cathat he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3 “There is a covenant ^{▼▼Or treaty; twice in this verse} between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the ^ccstore cities of Naphtali. 5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time ^cdHanani ^cethe seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ^cf“Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. 8 Were not ^cgthe Ethiopians and ^chthe Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^cibecause you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. 9 ^cjFor the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those ^ckwhose heart is blameless ^{▼▼Or whole} toward him. ^cmYou have done foolishly in this, for from now on ^cnyou will have wars.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him ^coin the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

11 ^cpThe acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. 13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier ^cqthat had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, ^crand they made a very great fire in his honor.