Aram invades Judah

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s rule, Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area. ² Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent them to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who ruled in Damascus, with the following message: ³ “Let’s make a covenant similar to the one between our fathers. Since I have already sent you silver and gold, break your covenant with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will leave me alone.” ⁴ Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel, attacking Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. ⁵ As soon as Baasha learned of this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶ Then King Asa had all Judah carry away the stone and timber that Baasha was using to build Ramah, and King Asa used it to build Geba and Mizpah. ⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Judah’s King Asa and said to him, “Because you relied on Aram’s king and not on the Lord your God, the army of Aram’s king has slipped out of your grasp. ⁸ Weren’t the Cushites and the Libyans a vast army with chariots and horsemen to spare? Still, when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power, ⁹ because the Lord’s eyes scan the whole world to strengthen those who are committed to him with all their hearts. Your foolishness means that you will have war on your hands from now on.” ¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer. Asa was so mad he threw Hanani in jail and took his anger out on some of the people.

Asa’s disease and death

¹¹ The rest of Asa’s deeds, from beginning to end, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa developed a severe foot disease. But even in his illness he refused to seek the Lord and consulted doctors instead. ¹³ In the forty-first year of his rule, Asa lay down with his ancestors. ¹⁴ He was buried in the tomb he had prepared for himself in David’s City, and was laid on a bed filled with sweet spices and various kinds of perfume, with a huge fire made in his honor.