Asa Attacks Baasha^(A)

16 During the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and interdicted Ramah by building fortifications around it so no one could enter or leave to join King Asa of Judah. ² But Asa removed some silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and from his royal palace and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who lived in Damascus. ³ “Let’s make a treaty between you and me,” he said, “just like the one between my father and your father. Notice that I’ve sent you silver and gold to break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he’ll retreat from his attack^[a] on me.”

⁴ So King Ben-hadad did just what King Asa had asked: he sent his commanding officers to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Bel-maim, and all of the storage centers in Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha learned of the attack, he withdrew from Ramah and stopped his interdiction. ⁶ Then King Asa brought his entire army of Judah to carry away the building stones and the timber that Baasha had been using to surround Ramah, and he used those materials to fortify Geba and Mizpah.

Asa is Rebuked by Hanani the Seer^(B)

⁷ Right about then, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and rebuked him. “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your control. ⁸ Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Libyans a vast army with many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your control! ⁹ The Lord’s eyes keep on roaming throughout the earth, looking for those whose hearts completely belong to him, so that he may strongly support them. But because you have acted foolishly in this, from now on you will have wars.” ¹⁰ In response, Asa flew into a rage and locked up the seer in stocks in the palace prison^[b] because of what Hanani^[c] had told him. Asa also tortured some of the people of Israel^[d] at that time.