Asa Attacks Baasha

(1 Kings 15:16-22)

1During 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. 2But 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 attacka on me.”

4So 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. 5When Baasha learned of the attack, he withdrew from Ramah and stopped his interdiction. 6Then 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

(1 Kings 15:23-24)

7Right 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. 8Weren’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! 9The 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.” 10In response, Asa flew into a rage and locked up the seer in stocks in the palace prisonb because of what Hananic had told him. Asa also tortured some of the people of Israeld at that time.

Asa’s Illness and Death

(1 Kings 15:23-24)

11Now the accomplishments of Asa from first to last are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah. 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a foot disease. Even though he suffered greatly, he never sought the LORD, but instead looked to doctors. 13As a result, in the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died, as had his ancestors, 14and he was buried in his own tomb that he had preparede for himself in the City of David. He was laid out on a bier that had been filled with various spices prepared by morticians,f and the mournersg built a massive bonfire to honor his memory.