14 Abijah lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

Asa rules Judah

^[a] In Asa’s time, the land had peace for ten years. ^2 [b] Asa did what was right and good in the Lord his God’s eyes. ³ He removed the foreign altars and shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the sacred poles,^{[c] 4} and urged Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, by doing what the Instruction and the commandments required. ⁵ He also removed the shrines and incense altars from all the cities of Judah so that the kingdom was at peace under him. ⁶ When the land was at peace, he built fortified cities in Judah; there was no war in those years because the Lord had given him rest.

⁷ “Let’s build up these cities,” Asa told Judah. “We’ll surround them with walls, towers, gates, and crossbars while the land is still ours, because we sought the Lord our God and he sought us^[d] and surrounded us with rest.” As a result, the people successfully completed their building projects.