1 Kings 15
New American Standard Bible
Abijam Reigns over Judah
15 (A)Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. 2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was [a](B)Maacah the daughter of [b](C)Abishalom. 3 He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and (D)his heart was not [c]wholly devoted to the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David. 4 But for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a (E)lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem, 5 (F)because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and did not deviate from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, (G)except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. 6 (H)And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
7 Now as for (I)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? (J)And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
Asa Succeeds Abijam
8 (K)And Abijam [d]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and his son Asa became king in his place.
9 So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. 10 He reigned for forty-one years in Jerusalem; and (L)his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 Now (M)Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like his father David. 12 (N)He also removed the male cult prostitutes from the land and (O)removed all the idols which his fathers had made. 13 And even his mother Maacah, (P)he also removed her from the position of queen mother, because she had made an abominable image [e]as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her abominable image and (Q)burned it at the brook Kidron. 14 (R)But the high places [f]were not eliminated; nevertheless (S)Asa’s heart was [g]wholly devoted to the Lord all his days. 15 And (T)he brought into the house of the Lord the [h]holy gifts of his father and his own [i]holy gifts: silver, gold, and valuable utensils.
16 (U)Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 (V)Baasha king of Israel marched against Judah and [j](W)fortified Ramah (X)in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then (Y)Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king’s house, and handed it over to his servants. And (Z)King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in (AA)Damascus, saying, 19 “Let’s make a (AB)treaty between [k]you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” 20 So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and [l]conquered (AC)Ijon, (AD)Dan, (AE)Abel-beth-maacah, and all (AF)Chinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard about it, (AG)he stopped [m]fortifying Ramah and remained in (AH)Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had built fortifications. And King Asa built with them (AI)Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
Jehoshaphat Succeeds Asa
23 (AJ)Now as for the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might, and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 And Asa [n]lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son (AK)Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.
Nadab and Then Baasha Rule over Israel
25 Now (AL)Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. 26 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and (AM)walked in the way of his father and (AN)in his sin into which he misled Israel. 27 Then (AO)Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck and killed him at (AP)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.
28 So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. 29 And as soon as he was king, he struck and killed all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave Jeroboam any [o]persons alive, but kept killing until he had eliminated them, (AQ)in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, 30 and because of the sins of Jeroboam which he [p]committed, and into (AR)which he misled Israel, because of his provocation with which he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.
31 (AS)Now as for 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?
War with Judah
32 (AT)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned for twenty-four years. 34 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and (AU)walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin into which he misled Israel.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 15:2 In 2 Chr 13:2, Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel
- 1 Kings 15:2 In 2 Chr 11:20, Absalom
- 1 Kings 15:3 Lit complete with
- 1 Kings 15:8 I.e., died
- 1 Kings 15:13 Or for Asherah; i.e., wooden symbol of a female deity
- 1 Kings 15:14 Lit did not cease
- 1 Kings 15:14 Lit complete with
- 1 Kings 15:15 Or votive offerings; i.e., gifts vowed
- 1 Kings 15:15 Or votive offerings; i.e., gifts vowed
- 1 Kings 15:17 Lit built
- 1 Kings 15:19 Lit me and you
- 1 Kings 15:20 Lit struck
- 1 Kings 15:21 Lit building
- 1 Kings 15:24 I.e., died
- 1 Kings 15:29 Lit breath
- 1 Kings 15:30 Lit sinned
1 Kings 15
Easy-to-Read Version
Abijah, King of Judah
15 Abijah became the new king of Judah during the 18th year that Jeroboam son of Nebat ruled Israel. 2 Abijah ruled in Jerusalem for three years. His mother’s name was Maacah. She was Absalom’s daughter.
3 He did all the same sins that his father before him had done. Abijah was not faithful to the Lord his God. In this way he was not like his grandfather, David. 4 But for David’s sake, the Lord gave Abijah a kingdom in Jerusalem and allowed him to have a son. He also kept Jerusalem safe. 5 David had always done what the Lord said was right. He had always obeyed his commands. The only time David did not obey the Lord was when he sinned against Uriah the Hittite.
6 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were always fighting against each other.[a] 7 The rest of what Abijah did is written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah.
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam during the whole time that Abijah was king. 8 When Abijah died, he was buried in the City of David. Abijah’s son Asa became the new king after him.
Asa, King of Judah
9 During Jeroboam’s 20th year as king over Israel, Asa became king of Judah. 10 He ruled in Jerusalem for 41 years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah, and she was the daughter of Absalom.
11 Asa did what the Lord said is right, as his ancestor David did. 12 During Asa’s time there were men who served other gods by selling their bodies for sex. Asa forced them to leave the country. He took away the idols that his ancestors had made. 13 King Asa also took away the right of his mother Maacah to be queen mother. He did this because she had set up one of those awful Asherah poles. Asa cut down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Asa did not destroy the high places, even though he was faithful to the Lord all his life. 15 Asa and his father had given some special gifts to God. Asa put these gifts of gold, silver, and other things in the Lord’s Temple.
16 The whole time that King Asa was king of Judah, he fought a war against King Baasha of Israel. 17 Once Baasha attacked Judah and then built up the city of Ramah to keep Asa from leaving Judah on any kind of military campaign. 18 So Asa took gold and silver from the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and the king’s palace. He gave it to his officials and sent them to King Ben-Hadad of Aram. Ben-Hadad was the son of Tabrimmon. Tabrimmon was the son of Hezion. Damascus was Ben-Hadad’s capital city. 19 Asa sent this message: “My father and your father had a peace agreement. Now I want to make a peace agreement with you. I am sending you this gift of gold and silver. Please break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel and make him leave us alone.”
20 King Ben-Hadad made the agreement with King Asa and sent his army to fight against the Israelite towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the towns near Lake Galilee, and the area of Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard about these attacks, he stopped building up Ramah and went back to Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa gave an order to all the men in Judah. Everyone had to help. They had to go to Ramah and carry out all the stone and wood that Baasha was using to build up the city. They carried the material to Geba in Benjamin and to Mizpah and used it to strengthen those two cities.
23 All the other things about Asa—the great things he did and the cities he built—are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah. When Asa became old, his feet became infected. 24 He died and was buried in the City of David, his ancestor. Then Asa’s son Jehoshaphat became the new king after him.
Nadab, King of Israel
25 During Asa’s second year as king of Judah, Jeroboam’s son Nadab became king of Israel. Nadab ruled over Israel for two years. 26 He did what the Lord said was wrong. He sinned just as his father Jeroboam did when he caused the Israelites to sin.
27 Baasha was the son of Ahijah. They were from the tribe of Issachar. Baasha made a plan to kill King Nadab. Nadab and all Israel were fighting against the Philistine town of Gibbethon. And that is where Baasha killed Nadab. 28 This happened during Asa’s third year as king of Judah. So Baasha became the next king of Israel.
Baasha, King of Israel
29 When Baasha became the new king, he killed everyone in Jeroboam’s family. He left no one in Jeroboam’s family alive. This happened just as the Lord said it would when he spoke through his servant Ahijah at Shiloh. 30 This happened because King Jeroboam had committed many sins and had caused the Israelites to sin. This made the Lord, the God of Israel, very angry.
31 The other things that Nadab did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Israel. 32 All during the time that Baasha ruled over Israel, he was fighting wars against King Asa of Judah.
33 Ahijah’s son Baasha became king of Israel during the third year that Asa ruled over Judah. Baasha ruled in Tirzah for 24 years, 34 but he did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the same sins that Jeroboam had done that caused the Israelites to sin.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 15:6 This is not in the ancient Greek version.
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