2 Chronicles 16:1-6 ▼

1 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 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.