1 Kings 15
New English Translation
Abijah’s Reign over Judah
15 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah[a] became king over Judah. 2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.[b] 3 He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been.[c] 4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God maintained his dynasty[d] in Jerusalem by giving him a son[e] to succeed him[f] and by protecting Jerusalem.[g] 5 He did this[h] because David had done what he approved[i] and had not disregarded any of his commandments[j] his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite. 6 Rehoboam[k] and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other throughout Abijah’s[l] lifetime. 7 The rest of the events of Abijah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[m] Abijah and Jeroboam had been at war with each other. 8 Abijah passed away[n] and was buried[o] in the City of David. His son Asa replaced him as king.
Asa’s Reign over Judah
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Asa became the king of Judah. 10 He ruled for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother[p] was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what the Lord approved[q] as his ancestor[r] David had done. 12 He removed the male cultic prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the disgusting idols[s] his ancestors[t] had made. 13 He also removed Maacah his grandmother[u] from her position as queen mother[v] because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her loathsome pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 The high places were not eliminated, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime.[w] 15 He brought the holy items that he and his father had made into the Lord’s temple, including the silver, gold, and other articles.[x]
16 Now Asa and King Baasha of Israel were continually at war with each other.[y] 17 King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah and established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.[z] 18 Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and handed it to his servants. He then told them to deliver it[aa] to Ben Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message: 19 “I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made.[ab] See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.”[ac] 20 Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel.[ad] They conquered[ae] Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the territory of Naphtali, including the region of Kinnereth.[af] 21 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying[ag] Ramah and settled down in Tirzah. 22 King Asa ordered all the men of Judah (no exemptions were granted) to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah.[ah] King Asa used the materials to build up[ai] Geba (in Benjamin) and Mizpah.
23 The rest of the events of Asa’s reign, including all his successes and accomplishments, as well as a record of the cities he built, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[aj] Yet when he was very old he developed a foot disease.[ak] 24 Asa passed away[al] and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoshaphat replaced him as king.
Nadab’s Reign over Israel
25 In the second year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Jeroboam’s son Nadab became the king of Israel; he ruled Israel for two years. 26 He did evil in the sight of[am] the Lord. He followed in his father’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to sin.[an]
27 Baasha son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar, conspired against Nadab[ao] and assassinated him in Gibbethon, which was in Philistine territory. This happened while Nadab and all the Israelite army were besieging Gibbethon. 28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah and replaced him as king. 29 When he became king, he executed Jeroboam’s entire family.[ap] He wiped out[aq] everyone who breathed, in keeping with the Lord’s message that he had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. 30 This happened because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit. These sins angered the Lord God of Israel.[ar]
31 The rest of the events of Nadab’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[as] 32 Asa and King Baasha of Israel were continually at war with each other.
Baasha’s Reign over Israel
33 In the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah; he ruled for twenty-four years. 34 He did evil in the sight of[at] the Lord; he followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraged Israel to sin.[au]
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 15:1 tc The Old Greek also has the phrase “the son of Rehoboam.”
- 1 Kings 15:2 sn Abishalom (also in v. 10) is a variant of the name Absalom (cf. 2 Chr 11:20). The more common form is used by TEV, NLT.
- 1 Kings 15:3 tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”
- 1 Kings 15:4 tn Heb “gave him a lamp.”
- 1 Kings 15:4 tc The Old Greek has the plural “his sons.”
- 1 Kings 15:4 tn Heb “by raising up his son after him.”
- 1 Kings 15:4 tn Heb “and by causing Jerusalem to stand firm.”
- 1 Kings 15:5 tn The words “he did this” are added for stylistic reasons.
- 1 Kings 15:5 tn Heb “what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
- 1 Kings 15:5 tn Heb “and had not turned aside from all which he commanded him.”
- 1 Kings 15:6 tc Most Hebrew mss read “Rehoboam”; a few Hebrew mss and the Syriac read “Abijam” (a variant of Abijah).
- 1 Kings 15:6 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Abijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Kings 15:7 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Abijah, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
- 1 Kings 15:8 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.” The Old Greek also has these words: “in the twenty-eighth year of Jeroboam.”
- 1 Kings 15:8 tn Heb “and they buried him.”
- 1 Kings 15:10 tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.
- 1 Kings 15:11 tn Heb “what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
- 1 Kings 15:11 tn Heb “father,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.
- 1 Kings 15:12 tn The word used here, גִלּוּלִים [gillulim], is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אֱלִילִים, ʾelilim), “vanities” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).
- 1 Kings 15:12 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 24).
- 1 Kings 15:13 tn Heb “mother,” but Hebrew often uses the terms “father” and “mother” for grandparents and more remote ancestors.
- 1 Kings 15:13 tn The Hebrew term גְּבִירָה (gevirah) can denote “queen” or “queen mother” depending on the context. Here the latter is indicated, since Maacah was the wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah.
- 1 Kings 15:14 tn Heb “yet the heart of Asa was complete with the Lord all his days.”
- 1 Kings 15:15 tn Heb “and he brought the holy things of his father and his holy things (into) the house of the Lord, silver, gold, and items.” Instead of “his holy things,” a marginal reading (Qere) in the Hebrew text has “the holy things of [the house of the Lord].”
- 1 Kings 15:16 tn Heb “There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.”
- 1 Kings 15:17 tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”
- 1 Kings 15:18 tn Heb “King Asa sent it.”
- 1 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”
- 1 Kings 15:19 tn Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”
- 1 Kings 15:20 tn Heb “and Ben Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of the armies which belonged to him against the cities of Israel.”
- 1 Kings 15:20 tn Heb “he struck down.”
- 1 Kings 15:20 sn A city in Galilee (Deut 3:17) along with its surrounding region; Kinnereth was also another name for the Sea of Galilee.
- 1 Kings 15:21 tn Heb “building.”
- 1 Kings 15:22 tn Heb “and King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, there was no one exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built.”
- 1 Kings 15:22 tn Heb “and King Asa built with them.”
- 1 Kings 15:23 tn Heb “As for the rest of all the events of Asa, and all his strength and all which he did and the cities which he built, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
- 1 Kings 15:23 tn Heb “Yet in the time of his old age he became sick in his feet.”
- 1 Kings 15:24 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
- 1 Kings 15:26 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
- 1 Kings 15:26 tn Heb “and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin.”
- 1 Kings 15:27 tn Heb “against him”; the referent (Nadab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Kings 15:29 tn Heb “house,” meaning “family” by metonymy.
- 1 Kings 15:29 tn Heb “He did not allow to survive.”
- 1 Kings 15:30 tn Heb “because of Jeroboam which he committed and which he made Israel commit, by his provocation by which he made the Lord God of Israel angry.”
- 1 Kings 15:31 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Nadab, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?”
- 1 Kings 15:34 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
- 1 Kings 15:34 tn Heb “and he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel sin.”
1 Kings 15
Revised Geneva Translation
15 And Abijam reigned over Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the 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 the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
4 But for David’s sake, the LORD his God gave him a light in Jerusalem, and set up his son after him, and established Jerusalem,
5 because David did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and turned from nothing that He Commanded him, all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as he lived.
7 Also, 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? There was also 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 place.
9 And during the twenty years of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa reigned over Judah.
10 He reigned in Jerusalem for forty-one years. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
11 And Asa did right in the Eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.
12 And he took away the Sodomites from the land and put away all the idols that his fathers had made.
13 And he also put down Maachah, his mother, from her estate, because she had made an idol in a grove. And Asa destroyed her idols and burnt them by the brook Kidron.
14 But they did not pull down the high places. Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was upright with the LORD, all his days.
15 Also, he brought in the holy vessels of his father, and the things that he had dedicated to the House of the LORD, silver and gold and vessels.
16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.
17 Then Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah, so that he could let no one go out or in to Asa, king of Judah.
18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of the House of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hands of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,
19 “A covenant between me and you, and between my father and your father! Behold, I have sent a present of silver and gold to you. Come. Break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, so that he may depart from me.”
20 So, Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the captains of the armies which he had against the cities of Israel and struck Ijon and Dan and Abel Beth Maachah and all Chinneroth, along with all the land of Naphtali.
21 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and dwelt in Tirzah.
22 Then, King Asa assembled all Judah. No exceptions. And they took the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had built. And King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah with them.
23 And 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 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 place.
25 And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned over Israel for two years.
26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, walking 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 killed him at Gibbethon (which belonged to the Philistines). For Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.
28 In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha killed him and reigned in his place.
29 And when he was king, he struck all the House of Jeroboam. He left no one alive for Jeroboam until he had destroyed him according to the Word of the LORD which he spoke by his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite,
30 because of the sins of Jeroboam which he committed, and with which he made Israel sin by his provocation with which he provoked the LORD God of Israel.
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, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah and reigned for twenty-four years.
34 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel sin.
1 Kings 15
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Judah’s King Abijam
15 In the eighteenth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah, 2 and he reigned for three years in Jerusalem.(A) His mother’s name was Maacah(B) daughter[a] of Abishalom.
3 Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed,(C) and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been.(D) 4 But for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp[b] in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him and by preserving Jerusalem.(E) 5 For David did what was right in the Lord’s sight, and he did not turn aside from anything he had commanded him all the days of his life,(F) except in the matter of Uriah(G) the Hethite.
6 There had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam’s life.(H) 7 The rest of the events of Abijam’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(I) There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam.(J) 8 Abijam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.(K) His son Asa became king in his place.(L)
Judah’s King Asa
9 In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam,(M) Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s[c] name was Maacah(N) daughter of Abishalom.
11 Asa did what was right in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done.(O) 12 He banished the male cult prostitutes(P) from the land and removed all of the idols that his ancestors had made.(Q) 13 He also(R) removed his grandmother[d] Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it(S) in the Kidron Valley.(T) 14 The high places were not taken away,(U) but Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his entire life.(V) 15 He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.(W)
16 There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns.(X) 17 Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah.(Y) He built Ramah(Z) in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. 18 So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple(AA) and the treasuries of the royal palace and gave it to his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad(AB) son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus,(AC) saying, 19 ‘There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father.(AD) Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel(AE) so that he will withdraw from me.’
20 Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon,(AF) Dan,(AG) Abel-beth-maacah,(AH) all Chinnereth,(AI) and the whole land of Naphtali.(AJ) 21 When Baasha heard about it, he stopped building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.(AK) 22 Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba(AL) of Benjamin and Mizpah(AM) with them.
23 The rest of all the events of Asa’s reign,(AN) along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(AO) But in his old age he developed a disease in his feet.(AP) 24 Then Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his ancestor David.(AQ) His son Jehoshaphat(AR) became king in his place.
Israel’s King Nadab
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam(AS) became king over Israel in the second year of Judah’s King Asa; he reigned over Israel for two years. 26 Nadab did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.(AT)
27 Then Baasha(AU) son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon(AV) of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon. 28 In the third year of Judah’s King Asa,(AW) Baasha killed Nadab(AX) and reigned in his place.
29 When Baasha became king, he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam.(AY) He did not leave Jeroboam any survivors but[e] destroyed his family according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.(AZ) 30 This was because Jeroboam had angered[f] the Lord God of Israel by the sins he had committed and had caused Israel to commit.(BA)
31 The rest of the events of Nadab’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.(BB) 32 There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns.(BC)
Israel’s King Baasha
33 In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah(BD) for twenty-four years. 34 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.(BE)
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