King Abijah of Judah

1After Jeroboam had been the king of Israel for almost 18 years, Abijah became the king of Judah.

2He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, the granddaughter of David’s son Absalom.

3Abijah committed the same kind of sins that his father had committed. He was not fully dedicated/committed to Yahweh his God, as his grandfather David had been.

4But, because of what Yahweh his God had promised to David, Yahweh gave Abijah a son [MET] to rule in Jerusalem after him, and in order to protect Jerusalem from their enemies.

5Yahweh did that because David had always done what pleased Yahweh and because David had always obeyed Yahweh. The only time when he disobeyed Yahweh was when he caused Uriah to be killed.

6There were wars between the armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all during the time that Abijah ruled.

7Everything else that Abijah did is written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

8Abijah died [EUP] and was buried in the part of Jerusalem called ‘The City of David’, and his son Asa became king.

King Asa of Judah

9After Jeroboam had been the king of Israel for almost 20 years, Asa started to rule Judah.

10He ruled in Jerusalem for 41 years. His grandmother was Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom.

11Asa did what was pleasing to Yahweh, as his ancestor David had done.

12He got rid of the male prostitutes that were at the places where the people worshiped idols, and he also got rid of all the idols that his ancestors had made.

13He also removed his grandmother Maacah so that she no longer had influence in the government because of being the mother of a previous king. He did that because she had made a disgusting wooden statue of the goddess Asherah. Asa told his workers to cut down the statue and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

14He was not able to destroy all the places where the people worshiped idols on the high hills, but he continued to be dedicated/committed to Yahweh his entIre life.

15He told his workers to place in the temple all the items that his father had dedicated to God, and all the gold and silver things that he had dedicated to God.

16There were wars between the armies of Asa and Baasha, the king of Israel, all during the time that they ruled.

17Baasha’s army invaded Judah. They captured Ramah town north of Jerusalem. Then they started to build a wall around it in order to prevent people from entering or leaving the area in Judah that was ruled by King Asa.

18So Asa told his workers to take all the silver and gold that was still in the storerooms in the temple and in the palace. He told them to take it to Damascus and give it to King Ben-Hadad who ruled Syria. Ben-Hadad was the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion. He told the workers to say this to Ben-Hadad:

19“I want there to be a peace treaty between you and me, like there was between your father and my father. For that reason, I am giving you this silver and gold. So now please cancel the treaty that you made with Baasha, the king of Israel, in order that he will take his soldiers away from attacking mine, because he will be afraid of your army.”

20So the workers went and gave the message to Ben-Hadad, and he did what Asa suggested. He sent his army commanders and their soldiers to attack some of the towns in Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maacah, the area near Galilee Lake, and all the land of the tribe of Naphtali.

21When Baasha heard about that, he told his soldiers to stop working at Ramah. He and his soldiers returned to Tirzah and stayed there.

22Then King Asa sent a message to all the people in the towns in Judah, stating that they all were required to go to Ramah and carry away the stones and timber that Baasha’s soldiers had been using to build a wall around the city. With those stones and timber they fortified Mizpah city north of Jerusalem, and Geba, a town in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

23Everything else that Asa did, the armies that his soldiers defeated, and the names of the cities that he caused to be fortified, are [RHQ] written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’. But when Asa became old, he got a disease in his feet.

24He died [EUP] and was buried where his ancestors were buried in the part of Jerusalem called ‘The City of David’. Then his son Jehoshaphat became king.

King Nadab of Israel

25After Asa had been the king of Judah for almost two years, King Jeroboam’s son Nadab started to rule Israel. He ruled for two years.

26He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil. His behavior was sinful like his father’s behavior had been, and what he did led the people of Israel to sin.

27A man named Baasha, from the tribe of Issachar, planned to harm him. He killed Nadab when Nadab and his army had surrounded Gibbethon city in the Philistia area.

28That [DOU] was when Asa had been the king ruling Judah for almost three years. Then Baasha became the king of Israel.

29As soon as Baasha became king, he commanded his soldiers to kill all of Jeroboam’s family. Doing what Yahweh had told the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh would happen, they killed all of Jeroboam’s family. None of them ◄was left/remained alive►.

30That happened because Yahweh had become very angry with Jeroboam because of all the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because of the sins that he had persuaded the people of Israel to commit.

31Everything else that Nadab did is written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.

32There were wars between the armies of King Asa and King Baasha all the time that they ruled.

King Baasha of Israel

33After Asa had been the king of Judah for almost three years, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, started to rule Israel at Tirzah city. He ruled for 24 years.

34He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil, and his behavior was sinful like his father’s had been, and he led the people of Israel to sin.