Alliance with Aram Condemned

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Ba′asha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ² Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-ha′dad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, ³ “Let there be a league between me and you, as between my father and your father; behold, I am sending to you silver and gold; go, break your league with Ba′asha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴ And Ben-ha′dad hearkened to King Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered I′jon, Dan, A′bel-ma′im, and all the store-cities of Naph′tali. ⁵ And when Ba′asha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and let his work cease. ⁶ Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Ba′asha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time Hana′ni the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. ⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the stocks, in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

Asa’s Disease and Death

¹¹ The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe; yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. ¹³ And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier which had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art; and they made a very great fire in his honor.