1 *Kings 15

₁Abijah became king_of_Judah in the 18th year after Jeroboam, son of Nebat, became king_of_Israel. ₂Abijah was king in Jerusalem for 3 years. His mother's name was Maakah, daughter of Abishalom. ₃Abijah did the same sins that his father had done. He did not serve the Lord with all his heart as his forefather David had done. ₄But because the Lord loved David, He made one of David's descendants become king in Jerusalem. ₅The Lord had chosen one of David's descendants because David had done what the Lord wanted and he had listened to everything God said. The only time David did not listen to the Lord was when he slept with the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, and killed him.

₆There was war_between Rehoboam and Jeroboam for as long as Abijah lived.

₇All the other things that Abijah did are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Judah. There was war_between Abijah and Jeroboam. ₈Abijah died and they buried him in the City of David. His son Asa became king after him.

₉Asa became king_of_Judah in the 20th year after Jeroboam became king_of_Israel. ₁₀Asa was king in Jerusalem for 41 years. His grandmother was Maakah and she was a daughter of Abishalom. ₁₁Asa lived in the right way and he did what the Lord wanted, like his forefather David had done. ₁₂Asa chased away the men who were temple-prostitutes out of the land and he took away all the idols that his forefathers had made. ₁₃His grandmother Maakah had been important because she was the king's mother, but he decided that she would not be important anymore because she had made a sinful idol of the goddess Asherah. Asa cut the image down and burnt it in the Kidron Valley. ₁₄He did not destroy the places_of_sacrifice but Asa served the Lord with all his heart as long as he lived. ₁₅He put the holy gifts in the temple. These were the gifts that his father gave and also his own gifts of gold and silver and other gifts.

₁₆There was always war_between Asa and Baasha, king_of_Israel. ₁₇Baasha, king_of_Israel, attacked Judah and he built the town Ramah and he built strong walls around it because he wanted to stop people from going to King Asa and coming back again. ₁₈Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was in the temple and in the palace and he gave it to messengers to take it to King Ben-Hadad. Ben-Hadad was the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the ruler of Damascus. Asa sent him this message and said: ₁₉‘Your father and my father had an agreement. We must also make an agreement like that. I send you this gift of silver and gold and I ask you to stop your agreement with Baasha, and then he will go out of my land.’

₂₀Ben-Hadad did what King Asa asked him, and he sent the chiefs of his army to attack the towns of Israel. They defeated the towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maakah and all the towns in Kinnereth and Naphtali. ₂₁When they told Baasha about this, he stopped building the town of Ramah and making it strong and he went back to the town of Tirzah. ₂₂King Asa called all the people of Judah. They all had to come. They carried away all the stones and wood that Baasha wanted to use to build the town of Ramah. King Asa then built the towns of Geba in the land of Benjamin and Mizpah with those stones and wood.

₂₃All the other things that Asa did, and also the important things and the towns that he built, are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Judah. When he was old, he became sick. He had a disease in his feet and he was crippled. ₂₄He died and they buried him in the city of his forefather David. Asa's son, Jehoshaphat, became king after him.

₂₅Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king_of_Israel in the 2nd year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. Nadab was king_of_Israel for 2 years. ₂₆He did what the Lord said was wrong. His father Jeroboam made the people of Israel sin and Nadab did the same. He did the same sins as his father had done. ₂₇Nadab and the men of Israel attacked the town of Gibbethon in the land of the Philistines. Baasha, son of Ahijah from the Issachar tribe, and some other people made a plan against Nadab and they killed him. ₂₈That happened in the 3rd year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. Then Baasha became king_of_Israel after Nadab. ₂₉When Baasha became king, he started to kill everyone in the family of Jeroboam. Not one of Jeroboam's descendants stayed alive. This happened as the Lord had told his servant Ahijah from Shiloh to tell the people. ₃₀It happened because Jeroboam made the Lord God of Israel angry when he did many sins and also made the people of Israel sin. ₃₁All the other things that Nadab did are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Israel. ₃₂There was always war_between Asa and Baasha, king_of_Israel.

₃₃Baasha, son of Ahijah, became king_of_Israel in the 3rd year after Asa had become king_of_Judah. Baasha was king in Tirzah for 24 years. ₃₄He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the same things as Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam made the people of Israel sin and Baasha now did the same sins.