1. ¶ Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah.

2. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

3. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.

4. Nevertheless for David’s sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem.

5. Because David had done that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not turned aside from any thing that he 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 Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7. Now the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the 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. ¶ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah.

10. And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

11. And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.

12. For he took away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

13. And he also removed Maachah, his mother, from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol and burnt it by the brook Kidron.

14. But the high places were not removed; nevertheless, Asa’s heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.

15. And he brought in the things which his father 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 Ramah, that he might not allow 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 king’s house and delivered them into the hand of his slaves, and King Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

19. There is a covenant between me and thee and between my father and thy father; behold, I have sent unto thee a bribe of silver and gold; come and break thy covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

20. So Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa and sent the princes of the hosts, which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon and Dan and Abelbethmaachah and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

21. And when Baasha heard this, he left off building of Ramah and dwelt in Tirzah.

22. Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; no one was exempted; and they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, with which Baasha had been building; and King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23. The rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless, 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 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 with which he made Israel sin.

27. And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel had laid siege to Gibbethon.

28. Even in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, did Baasha slay him and reigned in his stead.

29. And when he came into the kingdom, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not a living soul of those of Jeroboam, until he had destroyed him, according unto the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his slave Ahijah, the Shilonite,

30. because of the sins of Jeroboam with which he sinned and with which he made Israel sin and because of his 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, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

32. And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, 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; and he reigned twenty-four years.

34. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin with which he caused Israel to sin.