1Now in the eighteenth year of king Jerobo'am the son of Nebat became Abiyam king over Judah.

2Three years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Ma'achah, the daughter of Abishalom.

3And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not entire with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.

4Nevertheless for the sake of David did the Lord his God give him a rule in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to allow Jerusalem to exist.

5Because David did what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from all that he had commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriyah the Hittite.

6And there had been war between Rehobo'am and Jerobo'am all the days of his life.

7And the rest of the acts of Abiyam, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. And there was [also] war between Abiyam and Jerobo'am.

8And Abiyam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Assa his son became king in his stead.

9And in the twentieth year of Jerobo'am the king of Israel became Assa king over Judah.

10And forty and one years did he reign in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Ma'achah, the daughter of Abishalom.

11And Assa did what is right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father.

12And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.

13And also Ma'achah his mother, even her he removed from being queen; because she had made a scandalous image for the grove; and Assa cut down her scandalous image, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.

14But the high-places were not removed; nevertheless Assa's heart was entire with the Lord all his days.

15And he brought the things which his father had sanctified, and his own sanctified things, into the house of the Lord, silver, and gold, and vessels.

16And there was war between Assa and Ba'sha the king of Israel all their days.

17And Ba'sha the king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, in order not to suffer any one to go out or come in to Assa the king of Judah.

18Then did Assa take all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hand of his servants; and king Assa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Chesyon, the king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

19A covenant is between me and thee, [as] between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go and do break thy covenant with Ba'sha the king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.

20And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Assa, and sent the captains of the armies which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote 'Iyon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-ma'achah, and the whole of Kinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

21And it came to pass, when Ba'sha heard this, that he left off the building of Ramah, and remained in Tirzah.

22Then king Assa called together by proclamation all Judah, none being exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, wherewith Ba'sha had built; and king Assa built with them Geba' of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23And the rest of all the acts of Assa, and all his mighty deeds, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. Nevertheless in the time of his old age he became diseased in his feet.

24And Assa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son became king in his stead.

25And Nadab the son of Jerobo'am became king over Israel in the second year of Assa the king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years.

26And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, and he walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he had induced Israel to sin.

27And Ba'sha the son of Achiyah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Ba'sha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines: while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.

28And Ba'sha slew him in the third year of Assa the king of Judah, and became king in his stead.

29And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jerobo'am; he left not any that breathed unto Jerobo'am, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servant Achiyah the Shilonite;

30Because of the sins of Jerobo'am which he had sinned, and through which he had induced Israel to sin, by his provoking wherewith he provoked the Lord the God of Israel to anger.

31And the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

32And there was war between Assa and Ba'sha the king of Israel all their days.

33In the third year of Assa the king of Judah became Ba'sha the son of Achiyah king over all Israel, in Thirzah, [for] twenty and four years.

34And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jerobo'am, and in his sin wherewith he had induced Israel to sin.