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¹ NOW in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijah reigned over Judah.² He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Maacah, the daughter of Abed-shalom.³ And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had committed before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, like the heart of David his father.⁴ Nevertheless for Davids sake did the LORD God give him an heir in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish him in Jerusalem;⁵ Because David did that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.⁶ And there was war between Abijah the son of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of their lives.⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Abijah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.⁸ And Abijah 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 reigned over Judah.¹⁰ And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and his mothers name was Maacah, the daughter of Abed-shalom.¹¹ And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, as did David his father.¹² And he put the Sodomites out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.¹³ Moreover he removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she used to make a feast to her idol, and Asa destroyed her idol and burned it at the brook Kidron.¹⁴ But the high places he did not remove; nevertheless Asas heart was perfect with the LORD his God all his days.¹⁵ And he brought the things which his fathers had dedicated and the things which he himself had dedicated into the house of the LORD, silver and gold and vessels.¹⁶ And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.¹⁷ And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramtha, and did not permit any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the kings house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and Asa king of Judah sent them to Bar-hadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,¹⁹ There is a league between me and you and between my father and your father; behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold; come and break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.²⁰ So when Bar-hadad heard from Asa, he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and destroyed lion and Dan and Abel-beth-maacah and all the towns that are in all the land of Naphtali.²¹ And when Baasha heard of it, he left off building Ramtha and dwelt in Tirzah.²² Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted; and they carried away the stones of Ramtha and its timber with which Baasha had built it; and King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpeh.²³ The rest of the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.²⁴ And Asa slept 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 And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.²⁶ And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin.²⁷ And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him and slew him in Gath, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gath.²⁸ So Baasha slew him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.²⁹ And when he reigned, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet, the Shilonite;³⁰ Because of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he sinned and which he made Israel sin, by his great provocation with which he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.³² And there was war between Baasha and Asa the king of Judah all their days.³³ In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty-four years.³⁴ And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin.