Asa Wars against Baasha

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign ^(A)Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and ^[a]fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ² Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “Let there be a treaty between ^[b]you and me, as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” ⁴ So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they ^[c]conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all ^(B)the ^[d]store cities of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard of it, he ceased ^[e]fortifying Ramah and stopped his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he ^[f]fortified Geba and Mizpah.

Asa Imprisons the Prophet

⁷ At that time ^(C)Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “^(D)Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. ⁸ Were not ^(E)the Ethiopians and the Lubim ^(F)an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^(G)because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. ⁹ For ^(H)the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those ^(I)whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in ^[g]prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

^11 (J)Now, the acts of Asa from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he ^(K)did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. ¹³ So Asa slept with his fathers, ^[h]having died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled ^(L)with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art; and ^(M)they made a very great fire for him.

The Enticement of Sinners

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

3 ^(A)He ^(B)entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ^2 (C)They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(D)so that they might accuse Him. ³ He *said to the man with the withered hand, “^[a]Get up and come forward!” ⁴ And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ After ^(E)looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began ^[b]conspiring with the ^(F)Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

^7 (G)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(H)a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(I)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(J)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. ^9 (K)And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had ^(L)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(M)afflictions pressed around Him in order to ^(N)touch Him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are ^(O)the Son of God!” ¹² And He ^(P)earnestly warned them not to ^[c]tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

¹³ And He *went up on ^(Q)the mountain and *^(R)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: ^(S)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ¹⁷ and ^[d]James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of ^[e]James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and ^[f]James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the ^[g]Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

²⁰ And He *came ^[h](T)home, and the ^(U)crowd *gathered again, ^(V)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[i]a meal.