The End of Asa’s Reign

¹ In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha the king of Israel went up against Judah. And he built Ramah in order not to allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.

² Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the storehouses of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram,¹ who lived in Damascus, saying,

1. Or “Syria”

³ “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, that he might withdraw from me.”

⁴ And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent commanders of his troops that were with him against the cities of Israel. And they struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

⁵ And it happened that when Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work.

⁶ Then King Asa took all of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

⁷ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “On account of your reliance upon the king of Aram,¹ and since you did not rely on Yahweh your God, therefore the troops of the king of Aram² escaped from your hand.

1. Or “Syria”
2. Or “Syria”

⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with very abundant chariots and horsemen? And because of your reliance on Yahweh he gave them into your hand.

⁹ For the eyes of Yahweh roam throughout all the earth to strengthen those whose heart is fully devoted to him. You have been foolish in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in ⌞the prison⌟,¹ for he was enraged with him concerning this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

1. Literally “the house of the stocks”

¹¹ Now behold, the words of Asa from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, he fell ⌞severely⌟¹ ill in his feet. But even in his illness he did not seek Yahweh, but only among the healers.

1. Literally “until his illness unto severity”

¹³ And Asa slept with his ancestors.¹ And he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

1. Or “fathers”

¹⁴ And they buried him in his burial site, which had been cut out for him in the city of David. And they laid him on the bier which they had filled with all kinds of spices made by the perfumers as a fragment ointment. And they made a great fire in his honor.