Second Book of Chronicles 16

¹ In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel marched on Judah and fortified Ramah to blockade Asa king of Judah.

² Asa then took the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of Yahweh and the royal palace, and sent this with the following message to Ben-hadad king of Aram who lived in Damascus,

³ ‘An alliance between myself and you, as between my father and your father! With this I send you silver and gold. Come, break off your alliance with Baasha king of Israel, and he will have to retire from my territory.’

⁴ Ben-hadad agreed, and sent his generals against the towns of Israel; he conquered Ijon, Dan, Abelmaim and all the garrison towns of Naphtali.

⁵ When Baasha heard this he gave up fortifying Ramah, abandoning this work.

⁶ King Asa then brought all Judah; they took away the stones and timber with which Baasha had been fortifying Ramah, and the king used them to fortify Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ It was then that Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said, ‘Since you have relied on the king of Aram and not on Yahweh your God, the army of the king of Aram will slip through your fingers.

⁸ Did not the Cushites and Libyans form a vast army with great numbers of chariots and horses? And were they not delivered into your power because you relied on Yahweh?

⁹ Since the eyes of Yahweh rove to and fro across the whole world to display his might on behalf of those whose hearts are wholly his, you have acted on this occasion like a fool; and from now on you will have war.’

¹⁰ Enraged with the seer, Asa had him put in the stocks in prison, he was so angry with him for this; at the same time Asa began treating part of the population harshly too.

¹¹ The history of Asa, from first to last, is recorded in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² A disease attacked Asa from head to foot in the thirty-ninth year of his reign; and, what is more, he turned in his sickness, not to Yahweh, but to doctors.

¹³ Then Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.

¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb he had ordered to be dug for himself in the Citadel of David. They laid him on a couch entirely covered with spices and varied ointments, products of the perfumer’s skill, and lit a huge fire for him.