⁸ And Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Asa his son succeeded him as king.

Asa King of Judah^(A)(B)

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, ¹⁰ and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maakah^(C) daughter of Abishalom.

14 ^[a]And Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace for ten years.

¹¹ Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David^(A) had done.

Asa King of Judah^(A)

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.^{(B) 3} He removed the foreign altars^(C) and the high places, smashed the sacred stones^(D) and cut down the Asherah poles.^{[a](E) 4} He commanded Judah to seek the Lord,^(F) the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. ⁵ He removed the high places^(G) and incense altars^(H) in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him.

⁶ He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest.^(A)

⁷ “Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest^(B) on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸ Asa had an army of three hundred thousand^(C) men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.