1 Kings 13-15
New Living Translation
A Prophet Denounces Jeroboam
13 At the Lord’s command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, arriving there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to burn incense. 2 Then at the Lord’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.” 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message. He said, “The Lord has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the man of God speaking against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him and shouted, “Seize that man!” But instantly the king’s hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn’t pull it back. 5 At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the Lord.
6 The king cried out to the man of God, “Please ask the Lord your God to restore my hand again!” So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and he could move it again.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place. 9 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’” 10 So he left Bethel and went home another way.
11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons[a] came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12 The old prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So they showed their father[b] which road the man of God had taken. 13 “Quick, saddle the donkey,” the old man said. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
14 Then he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under a great tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
15 Then he said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place. 17 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”
18 But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’” But the old man was lying to him. 19 So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.
20 Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the Lord came to the old prophet. 21 He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”
23 After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him, 24 and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25 People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
27 Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, 28 and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. 29 So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him. 30 He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”
31 Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”
33 But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines. 34 This became a great sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the face of the earth.
Ahijah’s Prophecy against Jeroboam
14 At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick. 2 So Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as my wife. Then go to the prophet Ahijah at Shiloh—the man who told me I would become king. 3 Take him a gift of ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and ask him what will happen to the boy.”
4 So Jeroboam’s wife went to Ahijah’s home at Shiloh. He was an old man now and could no longer see. 5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife will come here, pretending to be someone else. She will ask you about her son, for he is very sick. Give her the answer I give you.”
6 So when Ahijah heard her footsteps at the door, he called out, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else?” Then he told her, “I have bad news for you. 7 Give your husband, Jeroboam, this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I promoted you from the ranks of the common people and made you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I ripped the kingdom away from the family of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who obeyed my commands and followed me with all his heart and always did whatever I wanted. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made other gods for yourself and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you have turned your back on me, 10 I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. 11 The members of Jeroboam’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
12 Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam’s wife, “Go on home, and when you enter the city, the child will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only member of your family who will have a proper burial, for this child is the only good thing that the Lord, the God of Israel, sees in the entire family of Jeroboam.
14 “In addition, the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! 15 Then the Lord will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River,[c] for they have angered the Lord with the Asherah poles they have set up for worship. 16 He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made Israel sin along with him.”
17 So Jeroboam’s wife returned to Tirzah, and the child died just as she walked through the door of her home. 18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, as the Lord had promised through the prophet Ahijah.
19 The rest of the events in Jeroboam’s reign, including all his wars and how he ruled, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 20 Jeroboam reigned in Israel twenty-two years. When Jeroboam died, his son Nadab became the next king.
Rehoboam Rules in Judah
21 Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel as the place to honor his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.
22 During Rehoboam’s reign, the people of Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, provoking his anger with their sin, for it was even worse than that of their ancestors. 23 For they also built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 24 There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. 26 He ransacked the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom.
29 The rest of the events in Rehoboam’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 30 There was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 When Rehoboam died, he was buried among his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. Then his son Abijam[d] became the next king.
Abijam Rules in Judah
15 Abijam[e] began to rule over Judah in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. 2 He reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom.[f]
3 He committed the same sins as his father before him, and he was not faithful to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been. 4 But for David’s sake, the Lord his God allowed his descendants to continue ruling, shining like a lamp, and he gave Abijam a son to rule after him in Jerusalem. 5 For David had done what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and had obeyed the Lord’s commands throughout his life, except in the affair concerning Uriah the Hittite.
6 There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam[g] throughout Abijam’s reign. 7 The rest of the events in Abijam’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. There was constant war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 When Abijam died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Asa became the next king.
Asa Rules in Judah
9 Asa began to rule over Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. 10 He reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother[h] was Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom.
11 Asa did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done. 12 He banished the male and female shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols[i] his ancestors had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down her obscene pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although the pagan shrines were not removed, Asa’s heart remained completely faithful to the Lord throughout his life. 15 He brought into the Temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the various items that he and his father had dedicated.
16 There was constant war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel. 17 King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa’s territory in Judah.
18 Asa responded by removing all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace. He sent it with some of his officials to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message:
19 “Let there be a treaty[j] between you and me like the one between your father and my father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”
20 Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa’s request and sent the commanders of his army to attack the towns of Israel. They conquered the towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Kinnereth, and all the land of Naphtali. 21 As soon as Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he abandoned his project of fortifying Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa sent an order throughout Judah, requiring that everyone, without exception, help to carry away the building stones and timbers that Baasha had been using to fortify Ramah. Asa used these materials to fortify the town of Geba in Benjamin and the town of Mizpah.
23 The rest of the events in Asa’s reign—the extent of his power, everything he did, and the names of the cities he built—are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. In his old age his feet became diseased. 24 When Asa died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David.
Then Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, became the next king.
Nadab Rules in Israel
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam began to rule over Israel in the second year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Israel two years. 26 But he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his father, continuing the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.
27 Then Baasha son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and assassinated him while he and the Israelite army were laying siege to the Philistine town of Gibbethon. 28 Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of King Asa’s reign in Judah, and he became the next king of Israel.
29 He immediately slaughtered all the descendants of King Jeroboam, so that not one of the royal family was left, just as the Lord had promised concerning Jeroboam by the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. 30 This was done because Jeroboam had provoked the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by the sins he had committed and the sins he had led Israel to commit.
31 The rest of the events in Nadab’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.
Baasha Rules in Israel
32 There was constant war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel. 33 Baasha son of Ahijah began to rule over all Israel in the third year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. Baasha reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years. 34 But he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of Jeroboam, continuing the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.
Footnotes
- 13:11 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads son.
- 13:12 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads They had seen.
- 14:15 Hebrew the river.
- 14:31 Also known as Abijah.
- 15:1 Also known as Abijah.
- 15:2 Hebrew Abishalom (also in 15:10), a variant spelling of Absalom; compare 2 Chr 11:20.
- 15:6 As in a few Hebrew and Greek manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts read between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
- 15:10 Or The queen mother; Hebrew reads His mother (also in 15:13); compare 15:2.
- 15:12 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
- 15:19 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads There is a treaty.
1 Kings 13-15
GOD’S WORD Translation
A Prophet Announces God’s Judgment
13 A man of God from Judah had come to Bethel. When he arrived, Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer a sacrifice. 2 By a command of the Lord, this man condemned the altar. “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: There will be a son born in David’s family line. His name will be Josiah. Here on you Josiah will sacrifice the priests from the illegal worship sites who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.”
3 That day the man of God ⌞also⌟ gave ⌞them⌟ a miraculous sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord will give you: You will see the altar torn apart. The ashes on it will be poured ⌞on the ground⌟.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the man of God condemning the altar in Bethel, he pointed to the man across the altar. “Arrest him,” he said. But the arm that he used to point to the man of God was paralyzed so that he couldn’t pull it back. 5 The altar was torn apart, and the ashes from the altar were poured ⌞on the ground⌟. This was the miraculous sign the man of God performed at the Lord’s command.
6 Then the king asked the man of God, “Please make an appeal to the Lord your God, and pray for me so that I can use my arm again.” So the man of God made an appeal to the Lord, and the king was able to use his arm again, as he had earlier.
7 The king told the man of God, “Come home with me; have something to eat and drink, and I will give you a gift.”
8 The man of God told the king, “Even if you gave me half of your palace, I would never go with you to eat or drink there. 9 When the Lord spoke to me, he commanded me not to eat or drink or go back on the same road I took.” 10 So the man of God left on another road and didn’t go back on the road he had taken to Bethel.
A Prophet Disobeys God
11 An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons told him everything the man of God did in Bethel that day and the exact words he had spoken to the king. When they told their father, 12 he said to them, “Which road did he take?” (His sons had seen which road the man of God from Judah had taken.) 13 The old prophet told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” After they had saddled the donkey for him, he got on it.
14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“Yes,” he answered.
15 “Come home with me, and eat a meal,” the old prophet replied.
16 The man of God said, “I’m not allowed to go back with you. I’m not allowed to eat or drink with you. 17 When the Lord spoke to me, he told me not to eat or drink there or go back on the road I took to get there.”
18 The old prophet said, “I’m also a prophet, like you. An angel spoke the Lord’s word to me. He said, ‘Bring him home with you so that he may have something to eat and drink.’ ” (But the old prophet was lying.)
19 The man of God went back with him and ate and drank in his home. 20 When they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet who had brought back the man of God. 21 The Lord also called to the man of God. He said, “This is what the Lord says: You rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth and didn’t obey the command that the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back, ate, and drank at this place about which he told you, ‘Don’t eat or drink there.’ That is why your dead body will not be allowed to be placed in the tomb of your ancestors.”
23 After the old prophet had something to eat and drink, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 The man of God left. A lion found him ⌞as he traveled⌟ on the road and killed him. His dead body was thrown on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing by the body. 25 People who passed by saw the body lying on the road and the lion standing by the body. They talked about it in the city where the old prophet was living.
26 When the old prophet who had brought the man of God back from the road heard about it, he said, “It’s the man of God who rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth! The Lord gave him to the lion. It tore him to pieces and killed him as the Lord’s word had told him.”
27 Then the old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey for him. So they did.
28 He found the body of the man thrown on the road. He also found the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body, nor had it torn the donkey to pieces. 29 The old prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to his own city to mourn for him and to bury him. 30 He laid the body of the man of God in his own tomb and mourned over the man, saying, “Oh no, my brother, my brother!” 31 After he had buried the man of God, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God was buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32 The things that he announced by a command of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and all the illegal worship sites in the cities of Samaria will happen.”
33 Even after this, Jeroboam didn’t change his evil ways, but he once again made some men priests for the illegal worship sites. He took all who were willing and appointed them to be priests at the worship sites. 34 Appointing illegal priests became the sin of Jeroboam’s family so that it had to be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth.
Jeroboam’s Son Dies
14 At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, got sick. 2 Jeroboam told his wife, “Go to Shiloh, but disguise yourself so that people will not recognize you as my wife. The prophet Ahijah, who told me I would be king of these people, is there. 3 Take ten loaves of bread, some raisins,[a] and a jar of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” 4 Jeroboam’s wife did this. She left, went to Shiloh, and came to the home of Ahijah.
Ahijah couldn’t see. His eyesight had failed because he was old. 5 However, the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son who is sick. When she comes, she will pretend to be someone else.” He also told Ahijah what to say to her.
6 Ahijah heard her footsteps when she came into the room. He said, “Come in. You’re Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I’ve been told to give you some terrible news. 7 Tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I picked you out of the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from David’s heirs and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands and faithfully followed me by doing only what I considered right. 9 You have done more evil things than everyone before you. You made other gods, metal idols, for yourself. You made me furious and turned your back to me.
10 “ ‘That is why I will bring disaster on Jeroboam’s house. I will destroy every male [b] in his house, whether slave or freeman in Israel. I will burn down Jeroboam’s house. It will burn like manure until it is gone. 11 If anyone from Jeroboam’s house dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.’ The Lord has said this!
12 “Get up, and go home. The moment you set foot in the city the child will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam’s family who will be ⌞properly⌟ buried. He was the only one in Jeroboam’s house in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. 14 The Lord will appoint a king over Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam’s house. This will happen today. It will happen right now.
15 “The Lord will strike Israel like cattails which shake in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they dedicated poles to the goddess Asherah and made the Lord furious. 16 So the Lord will desert Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins, the sins which he led Israel to commit.”
17 Jeroboam’s wife got up, left, and went to Tirzah. When she walked across the threshold of her home, the boy died. 18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him as the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.
19 Everything else concerning Jeroboam, his wars, and his reign is written in the official records of the kings of Israel. 20 Jeroboam ruled for 22 years. Then he lay down in death with his ancestors. His son Nadab succeeded him as king.
King Rehoboam of Judah(A)
21 Rehoboam, son of Solomon, ruled Judah. He was 41 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel, the city where the Lord put his name. Rehoboam’s mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.
22 The people of Judah did what the Lord considered evil. Their sins made him more angry than anything their ancestors had done. 23 They built worship sites for themselves and ⌞put up⌟ large stones and Asherah poles to worship on every high hill and under every large tree. 24 There were even male prostitutes in the temples of idols throughout the land. The people of Judah did all the disgusting practices done by the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way.
King Shishak Takes the Temple Treasures(B)
25 In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took the treasures from the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took them all. He took all the gold shields Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and put them by the entrance to the royal palace, where the captains of the guards were stationed. 28 Whenever the king went into the Lord’s temple, guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.
29 Isn’t everything else concerning Rehoboam—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as they lived. 31 Rehoboam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. (His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.) His son Abijam succeeded him as king.
King Abijam of Judah(C)
15 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), Abijam began to rule Judah. 2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom. 3 He followed the sinful example his father had set and wasn’t committed to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been. 4 But for David’s sake the Lord his God made Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem. He appointed David’s descendant to rule after him and protected Jerusalem. 5 The Lord did this because David did what the Lord considered right: David never failed to do anything the Lord commanded him to do his entire life (except in the matter concerning Uriah the Hittite).
6 There was war between Abijam [c] and Rehoboam throughout their lives.
7 Isn’t everything else about Abijam—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 Abijam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king.
King Asa of Judah(D)
9 In Jeroboam’s twentieth year as king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah. 10 He ruled 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.
11 Asa did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done. 12 He forced the male temple prostitutes out of the land and got rid of the idols his father had made. 13 He also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although the illegal worship sites were not torn down, Asa remained committed to the Lord his entire life. 15 He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver, the gold, and the utensils he and his father had set apart as holy.
King Asa’s War with King Baasha(E)
16 There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel as long as they lived. 17 King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah.
18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and turned them over to his officials. King Asa sent them to Damascus to Aram’s King Benhadad, son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion. 19 He said, “There’s a treaty between you and me ⌞as⌟ there was between your father and my father. I’m sending you a present of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”
20 Benhadad did what King Asa requested. He sent his generals and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and the entire area around Chinneroth with the entire territory of Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and lived in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa drafted everyone in Judah and excused no one. He made them carry the stones and lumber from Ramah. Baasha had been using those to fortify the city. King Asa used the materials to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah.
23 Isn’t everything else about Asa—all his heroic acts, everything he did, and the cities he fortified—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? But when he was old, he had a foot disease. 24 Asa lay down in death with his ancestors. He was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor, David. His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.
King Baasha Overthrows Nadab, Son of Jeroboam
25 Nadab, son of Jeroboam, began to rule Israel in Asa’s second year as king of Judah. He ruled for two years. 26 He did what the Lord considered evil, living as his father did, leading Israel into the same sins.
27 Then Baasha, son of Ahijah from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab. Baasha assassinated him in the Philistine city of Gibbethon while Nadab and the Israelite forces were attacking it. 28 The assassination happened in Asa’s third year as king of Judah. Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel. 29 As soon as he was king, he killed everyone else in Jeroboam’s family. He did not spare a soul, as the Lord had spoken through his servant Ahijah from Shiloh. 30 This was because of Jeroboam’s sins and the sins which he led Israel to commit. Those sins made the Lord God of Israel furious.
31 Isn’t everything else about Nadab—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Israel? 32 There was war between Asa and Baasha as long as they lived.
33 In Asa’s third year as king of Judah, Baasha, son of Ahijah, began to rule Israel in Tirzah. He ruled for 24 years. 34 He did what the Lord considered evil. He lived like Jeroboam and led Israel into committing the ⌞same⌟ sins.
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