9So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. 10He reigned for forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11Now Asa did what was right in the sight of the LORD, like his father David. 12He also removed the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made. 13And even his mother Maacah, he also removed her from the position of queen mother, because she had made an abominable image [e]as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her abominable image and burned it at the brook Kidron. 14But the high places [f]were not eliminated; nevertheless Asa’s heart was [g]wholly devoted to the LORD all his days. 15And he brought into the house of the LORD the [h]holy gifts of his father and his own [i]holy gifts: silver, gold, and valuable utensils.

16Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17Baasha king of Israel marched against Judah and [j]fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. 18Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the king’s house, and handed it over to his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, 19“Let’s make a treaty between [k]you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” 20So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and [l]conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali. 21When Baasha heard about it, he stopped [m]fortifying Ramah and remained in Tirzah. 22Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had built fortifications. And King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

Jehoshaphat Succeeds Asa

23Now as for the rest of all the acts of Asa and 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 the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24And Asa [n]lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.

Nadab and Then Baasha Rule over Israel

25Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. 26He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father and in his sin into which he misled Israel. 27Then Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck and killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

28So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. 29And as soon as he was king, he struck and killed all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave Jeroboam any [o]persons alive, but kept killing until he had eliminated them, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, 30and because of the sins of Jeroboam which he [p]committed, and into which he misled Israel, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

31Now as for 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?

War with Judah