2 Chronicles 15-16
The Prophet Azariah Warns Asa
Now athe Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: athe Lord is with you when you are with Him. And bif you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3 aFor many days Israel was without the true God and without ba teaching priest and without law. 4 But ain their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him. 5 aIn those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 aNation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. 7 But you, abe strong and do not lose courage, for there is breward for your work.”
Asa’s Reforms
8 Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from athe cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. bHe then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord. 9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon awho resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 aThey sacrificed to the Lord that day 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought. 12 aThey entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul; 13 and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel ashould be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. 14 Moreover, they made an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets and with horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So athe Lord gave them rest on every side.
16 aHe also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as ban Asherah, and cAsa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days. 18 He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver and gold and utensils. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
Asa Wars against Baasha
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign aBaasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3 “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” 4 So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all athe store cities of Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard of it, he ceased fortifying Ramah and stopped his work. 6 Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.
Asa Imprisons the Prophet
7 At that time aHanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “bBecause you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. 8 Were not athe Ethiopians and the Lubim ban immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet cbecause you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. 9 For athe eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those bwhose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
11 aNow, the acts of Asa from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he adid not seek the Lord, but the physicians. 13 So Asa slept with his fathers, having died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled awith spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art; and bthey made a very great fire for him.
1 Kings 16
Prophecy against Baasha
Now the word of the Lord came to aJehu the son of bHanani against Baasha, saying, 2 “Inasmuch as I aexalted you from the dust and made you leader over My people Israel, and byou have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made My people Israel sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins, 3 behold, aI will consume bBaasha and his house, and cI will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4 aAnyone of Baasha who dies in the city the dogs will eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat.”
5 aNow the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
The Israelite Kings
6 And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in aTirzah, and Elah his son became king in his place. 7 Moreover, the word of the Lord through athe prophet Jehu the son of Hanani also came against Baasha and his household, both because of all the evil which he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with bthe work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because che struck it.
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel at Tirzah, and reigned two years. 9 His servant aZimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was at Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, bwho was over the household at Tirzah. 10 Then Zimri went in and struck him and put him to death in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and became king in his place. 11 It came about when he became king, as soon as he sat on his throne, that ahe killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave a single male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends.
12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, aaccording to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha through bJehu the prophet, 13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel sin, aprovoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. 14 aNow the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days at Tirzah. Now the people were camped against aGibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16 The people who were camped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired and has also struck down the king.” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17 Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah. 18 When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and adied, 19 because of his sins which he sinned, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, awalking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel sin. 20 aNow the rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he carried out, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; the other half followed Omri. 22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. And Tibni died and Omri became king. 23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel and reigned twelve years; he reigned six years at aTirzah. 24 He bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built aSamaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.
25 aOmri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and bacted more wickedly than all who were before him. 26 For he awalked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins which he made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel with their idols. 27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did and his might which he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 28 So Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son became king in his place.
29 Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord amore than all who were before him.
31 It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that ahe married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the bSidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. 32 So he erected an altar for Baal in athe house of Baal which he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made athe Asherah. Thus bAhab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 aIn his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
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