1 Kings 15

Modern English Version

Abijah, King of Judah^(A)

15 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maakah, the daughter of Abishalom.

³ He walked in all the sins of his father that he had done before him, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. 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 did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter involving Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ The war begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued all the days of his life. ⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Abijah 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 Abijah and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David, and Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa, King of Judah^(B)

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. ¹⁰ He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and his grandmother’s name was Maakah, the daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹ Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. ¹² He expelled the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³ In addition he even deposed his grandmother Maakah as queen, because she had made an idol in a grove. Asa destroyed her idol and burned it by the Kidron brook. ¹⁴ But the high places were not all removed, even though Asa’s heart was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ He brought into the house of the Lord the things that both his father and he himself had dedicated, the silver and gold and cups.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷ Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah so he could prevent anyone from going out or coming 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, as well as the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived at Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “There is a treaty between me and you and between my father and your father. I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so he will depart from me.”

²⁰ So Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maakah, and all Kinnereth, along with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard about it, he halted the fortification of Ramah and moved to Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah—none was exempted—and they took away the stones of Ramah and the timber with which Baasha had built, and King Asa used them to build Geba of Benjamin as well as Mizpah.

²³ The rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? When he was old, he got a disease in his feet. ²⁴ Asa then slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Nadab, King of Israel

²⁵ 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 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁷ Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. ²⁸ It was in the third year of Asa king of Judah that Baasha killed him and took his throne.

²⁹ When he became king, Baasha killed all the house of Jeroboam. No one from Jeroboam’s family was left breathing. He completely destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he made Israel sin, by 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.

Baasha, King of Israel

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 did so twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.