1 Kings 15
Darby Translation
15 And in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat began Abijam to reign over Judah.
2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Maachah, a daughter of Abishalom.
3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father.
4 But for David's sake Jehovah his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem;
5 because David did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Urijah the Hittite.
6 And there had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
7 And the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead.
9 And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah;
10 and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Maachah, daughter of Abishalom.
11 And Asa did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, as David his father.
12 And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his father had made.
13 And also Maachah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol for the Asherah; and Asa cut down her idol, and burned it in the valley of Kidron.
14 But the high places were not removed; only, Asa's heart was perfect with Jehovah all his days.
15 And he brought into the house of Jehovah the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and vessels.
16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
17 And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, in order to let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
18 And Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying,
19 There is a league between me and thee, [as] between my father and thy father; behold, I send thee a present of silver and gold: go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
20 And Ben-Hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his forces against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-Beth-Maachah, and all Kinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
21 And it came to pass when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah.
22 And king Asa called together all Judah: none was exempted; and they carried away the stones and the timber from Ramah, with which Baasha had been building; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.
23 And the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Only, in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
25 And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years.
26 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel sin.
27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which [belonged] to the Philistines, when Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.
28 And Baasha slew him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.
29 And it came to pass when he was king, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left to Jeroboam none that breathed; until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite,
30 because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and wherewith he made Israel to sin; by his provocation with which he provoked Jehovah the God of Israel to anger.
31 And the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, for twenty-four years.
34 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin where with he made Israel to sin.
1 Kings 15
EasyEnglish Bible
Abijah, king of Judah
15 Abijah became king of Judah after Nebat's son Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 18 years. 2 Abijah ruled in Jerusalem as king for three years. His mother's name was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom.[a] 3 Abijah did the same bad things that his father had done before him. He did not serve the Lord his God faithfully, as his ancestor King David had done. 4 But the Lord his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem. He also made Jerusalem a strong city. The Lord did that because of his promise to David. 5 David had always done things that pleased the Lord. David had obeyed the Lord's commands in his whole life, except what he did to Uriah, the Hittite man.[b]
6 In Abijah's whole life, there was a war between the armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
7 The other things that happened while Abijah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Abijah did. While Abijah was king, there was war between his army and Jeroboam's army.
8 Abijah died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. Abijah's son Asa became king after him.
Asa, king of Judah
9 Asa became king of Judah when Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 20 years. 10 Asa ruled in Jerusalem as king for 41 years. His grandmother was Maakah. She was the daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did things that pleased the Lord, as his ancestor King David had done. 12 He removed the male prostitutes from the altars on the hills. He sent them out of Judah. He removed all the useless idols that his ancestors had made. 13 He also told his grandmother Maakah that she could no longer have authority as the Queen Mother.[c] This was because she had made a disgusting Asherah pole to worship. Asa cut down the Asherah pole and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.[d] 14 Asa did not remove the altars on all the hills, but he served the Lord faithfully for his whole life. 15 He brought into the Lord's temple the things that he and his father had made as gifts to the Lord. They used silver and gold to make some of these things.
16 There was always a war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel while they ruled. 17 One time, Baasha attacked Judah. He put a group of his soldiers in Ramah and he made it a strong town. As a result, nobody could travel into Judah or out of Judah, where King Asa ruled.[e] 18 So Asa took all the silver and gold that they had stored in his palace and in the Lord's temple. He gave it to his servants. He told them to take it to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus. Ben-Hadad's father was Tabrimmon and his grandfather was Hezion. 19 Asa sent this message to Ben-Hadad: ‘We should make an agreement to be friends, as our fathers did. I am sending you this gift of silver and gold. Please stop being friends with Baasha, king of Israel. If you no longer help him, he will have to take his soldiers out of my country.’ 20 Ben-Hadad agreed to do what King Asa asked him to do. He sent his army with its leaders to attack towns in Israel. They won the battles at Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maakah, as well as the region of Kinnereth and the land of Naphtali. 21 When King Baasha heard this news, he stopped the work in Ramah. He left there and he went to live in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa commanded all the men in Judah to do some hard work. Everyone had to do this: They must carry away from Ramah all the big stones and the wood that Baasha had been using there. Then King Asa used those things to make Geba (in Benjamin's land) and Mizpah strong towns again.
23 The other things that happened while Asa was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about Asa's power and all the great things that he did. It also tells about the cities that he built. When Asa became an old man he had a disease in his feet.
24 Asa died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David, his ancestor. Asa's son Jehoshaphat became king after him.
Nadab, king of Israel
25 When Asa had been king of Judah for two years, Jeroboam's son became king of Israel. Nadab ruled Israel as king for two years. 26 He did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same bad things that his father had done. He also caused the Israelites to do bad things.
27 Baasha decided to kill King Nadab. Baasha was Ahijah's son and he belonged to Issachar's tribe. This happened while Nadab and Israel's army were attacking Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines. 28 Baasha killed King Nadab in the third year that Asa was king of Judah. Baasha became king of Israel instead of Nadab.
29 When Baasha became king, he killed all Jeroboam's descendants. He did not leave anyone in Jeroboam's family alive. He killed them all. The Lord had already said that this would happen. He had given the message to his servant Ahijah, who was from Shiloh.[f] 30 This happened because of Jeroboam's sins, and the sins which he caused the Israelites to do. These sins had made the Lord, Israel's God, very angry.
31 The other things that happened while Nadab was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Nadab did. 32 There was always a war between the armies of King Asa and King Nadab.
Baasha, king of Israel
33 In the third year that Asa was king of Judah, Ahijah's son Baasha became the king of all Israel. He was living in Tirzah. Baasha ruled as king for 24 years.[g] 34 Baasha did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same sins that Jeroboam had done. He also caused the Israelites to do those bad things.
Footnotes
- 15:2 Abishalom may be another way to write Absalom, who was King David's son. So maybe Maakah was the granddaughter of King David.
- 15:5 David sent Uriah to his death, so that he could marry Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. See 2 Samuel 11.
- 15:13 ‘Queen Mother’ was the wife of a king that had now died. She had authority to make important decisions.
- 15:13 The Kidron Valley was outside Jerusalem.
- 15:17 Ramah was near to Jerusalem, in Benjamin's land. It was part of King Asa's kingdom.
- 15:29 Ahijah's message to Jeroboam is in 1 Kings 14:10-11.
- 15:33 Tirzah was a beautiful place. See Song of Songs 6:4. Perhaps that is why Israel's kings lived there instead of in Shechem.
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