Revival under Asa

15 The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded.^{(A) 2} So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you^(B) when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you,^(C) but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.^{(D) 3} For many years Israel has been without the true God,^(E) without a teaching priest, and without instruction,^{(F) 4} but when they turned to the Lord God of Israel in their distress and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵ In those times there was no peace for those who went about their daily activities because the residents of the lands had many conflicts. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every possible distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong; don’t give up,^[a] for your work has a reward.”^(G)

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the abhorrent idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim.^(H) He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.^{(I) 9} Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.^(J)

¹⁰ They were gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from all the plunder they had brought.^{(K) 12} Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with all their heart and all their soul.^{(L) 13} Whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be put to death, young or old,^[b] man or woman.^{(M) 14} They took an oath to the Lord in a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with rams’ horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They had sought him with all sincerity, and he was found by them.^(N) So the Lord gave them rest on every side.^(O)

¹⁶ King Asa^(P) also removed Maacah, his grandmother,^[c](Q) from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image, then crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.^{(R) 17} The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholeheartedly devoted his entire life.^{[d] 18} He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into God’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

¹⁹ There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Asa’s Treaty with Aram

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa,^(S) Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. ² So Asa brought out the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent it to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “There’s a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go break your treaty with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies to the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim,^[e] and all the storage cities^[f] of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stopped his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

Hanani’s Rebuke of Asa

⁷ At that time, the seer Hanani^(T) came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Aram and have not depended on the Lord your God,^(U) the army of the king of Aram has escaped from you. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen?^(V) When you depended on the Lord, he handed them over to you.^{(W) 9} For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth^(X) to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him.^(Y) You have been foolish in this matter. Therefore, you will have wars from now on.” ¹⁰ Asa was enraged with the seer and put him in prison^[g] because of his anger over this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at that time.

Asa’s Death

¹¹ Note that the events^(Z) of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a disease in his feet, and his disease became increasingly severe. Yet even in his disease he didn’t seek the Lord but only the physicians. ¹³ Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ He was buried in his own tomb that he had made for himself in the city of David. They laid him out in a coffin that was full of spices and various mixtures of prepared ointments;^(AA) then they made a great fire in his honor.^(AB)

16 Now the word of the Lord came to Jehu^(A) son of Hanani^(B) against Baasha: ² “Because I raised you up from the dust^(C) and made you ruler over my people Israel,^(D) but you have walked in the ways of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin,^(E) angering me with their sins, ³ take note: I will eradicate Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat:^(F)

⁵ The rest of the events of Baasha’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and might, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.^{(H) 6} Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah became king in his place. ⁷ But through the prophet Jehu^(I) son of Hanani the word of the Lord also had come against Baasha and against his house because of all the evil he had done in the Lord’s sight. His actions angered the Lord, and Baasha’s house became like the house of Jeroboam, because he had struck it down.^(J)

Israel’s King Elah

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Judah’s King Asa, Elah son of Baasha became king over Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah^(K) two years.

⁹ His servant Zimri,^(L) commander of half his chariots, conspired against him while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk^(M) in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the household^(N) at Tirzah. ¹⁰ In the twenty-seventh year of Judah’s King Asa, Zimri went in and struck Elah down, killing him. Then Zimri became king in his place.^(O)

¹¹ When he became king, as soon as he was seated on his throne, Zimri struck down the entire house of Baasha. He did not leave a single male,^[b](P) including his kinsmen and his friends. ¹² So Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu.^{(Q) 13} This happened because of all the sins of Baasha and those of his son Elah, which they committed and caused Israel to commit, angering the Lord God of Israel^(R) with their worthless idols.^(S)

¹⁴ The rest of the events of Elah’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.^(T)

Israel’s King Zimri

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Judah’s King Asa, Zimri became king for seven days in Tirzah.^(U) Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines.^{(V) 16} When these troops heard that Zimri had not only conspired but had also struck down the king, then all Israel made Omri, the army commander, king over Israel that very day in the camp. ¹⁷ Omri along with all Israel marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.^{(W) 18} When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned it down over himself. He died ¹⁹ because of the sin he committed by doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and by walking in the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he caused Israel to commit.^(X)

²⁰ The rest of the events of Zimri’s reign, along with the conspiracy that he instigated, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. ²¹ At that time the people of Israel were divided: half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. ²² However, the people who followed Omri proved stronger than those who followed Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king.

Israel’s King Omri

²³ In the thirty-first year of Judah’s King Asa, Omri became king over Israel, and he reigned twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah,^{(Y) 24} then he bought the hill of Samaria^(Z) from Shemer for 150 pounds^[c] of silver, and he built up the hill. He named the city he built Samaria^[d] based on the name Shemer, the owner of the hill.

²⁵ Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he did more evil than all who were before him.^{(AA) 26} He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat in every respect and continued in his sins that he caused Israel to commit, angering the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols.^{(AB) 27} The rest of the events of Omri’s reign, along with his accomplishments and the might he exercised, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. ²⁸ Omri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab became king in his place.

Israel’s King Ahab

²⁹ Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Judah’s King Asa; Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰ But Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight more than all who were before him.^{(AC) 31} Then, as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were not enough, he married Jezebel,^(AD) the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians,^(AE) and then proceeded to serve Baal and bow in worship to him.^{(AF) 32} He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal^(AG) that he had built in Samaria. ³³ Ahab also made an Asherah pole.^(AH) Ahab did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.^(AI)

³⁴ During his reign, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn, he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest, he finished its gates, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.^(AJ)