Melachim I - Chapter 15

1. And in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, Abijam ruled over Judah.

2. Three years he ruled in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom.

3. And he went in all the sins of his father that he had done before him, and his heart was not complete with the Lord, his God, as was the heart of David his father.

4. For because of David, the Lord his God gave him rule in Jerusalem to set up his son after him to preserve Jerusalem.

5. Since David did what was just in the eyes of the Lord and he did not turn away from all that the Lord had commanded him, all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

6. And there was war between Rehoboam and between Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7. And the rest of the events of Abijam and all that he did are written in the book of Chronicles of the kings of Judah. And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

8. And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

9. And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa ruled over Judah.

10. Forty-one years he ruled in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom.

11. And Asa did what was just in the eyes of the Lord, as had done David his father.

12. And he abolished the adulterers from the land, and he removed the idols that his fathers had made.

13. And also Maachah his mother he removed from [being] queen, for she had made a frightful image for an Asheira and Asa cut off her image and burnt it in Kidron Valley.

14. The high places he did not remove, but Asa's heart was complete with the Lord all of his days.

15. And he brought his father's consecrated things and his own consecrated things into the house of the Lord, silver and gold and vessels.

16. There was war between Asa and Basha the king of Israel all their days.

17. And Basha the king of Israel went up against Judah and built a high tower, so that nobody belonging to Asa the king of Judah would be able to leave or enter.

18. And Asa took all of the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king's house, and he entrusted them in the hands of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben Haddad, the son of Tabrimon the son of Chezyon, king of Aram who resided in Damascus, saying,

19. "There is a treaty between me and you and between my father and your father. Behold I have sent to you a bribe of silver and gold. Go abrogate your treaty with Basha, king of Israel, that he depart from me.

20. And Ben Haddad listened to king Asa, and he sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and he struck Ijon and Dan and Abel-Beth Maachah and all Kinereth with all the land of Naftali.

21. And as Basha heard this, he refrained from building the high tower, and he resided in Tirzah.

22. King Asa proclaimed to all Judah without exception and they carried the stones of the high tower, and its timber with which Baasha had built it, and king Asa built with it Geba of Benjamin and Mitzpah.

23. The remainder of the acts of Asa and all his mighty deeds and all that he accomplished and the cities which he built, they are inscribed in the book of Chronicles of the kings of Judah. However, during his old age, he was stricken with a foot ailment.

24. And Asa lay with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.

25. Nadab the son of Jeroboam, reigned over Israel during the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and ruled over Israel two years.

26. He did what was bad in the eyes of the Lord, and he went in the way of his father and in his sin that he had caused Israel to sin.

27. And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him, and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, when Nadab and all Israel were laying seige to Gibbethon.

28. And Basha slew him in the third year of Asa the king of Judah and ruled in his stead.

29. And it was as soon as he was king, he slew all the house of Jeroboam; he did not leave over any person belonging to Jeroboam, until he destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord through his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite.

30. For the sins of Jeroboam which he had sinned and caused Israel to sin because of his angering which he angered the Lord, the God of Israel.

31. And the rest of the events of Nadab and all that he did, they are inscribed in the book of Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

32. And there was war between Asa and Baasha the king of Israel, all their lives.

33. During the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha the son of Achijah reigned over all of Israel in Tirzah twenty-four years.

34. And he did what was bad in the eyes of the Lord, and he went in the way of Jeroboam and in his sins that he had caused Israel to sin.