2 Chronicles 16

16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah, and he established Ramah as a military outpost to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the land of King Asa of Judah.¹ 16:2 Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message: 16:3 “I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made.² See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.”³ 16:4 Ben Hadad accepted King Asa’s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel.⁴ They conquered⁵ Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim,⁶ and all the storage cities of Naphtali. 16:5 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying⁷ Ramah and abandoned the project.⁸ 16:6 King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah.⁹ He used the materials to build up¹⁰ Geba and Mizpah.

16:7 At that time Hanani the prophet¹¹ visited King Asa of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. 16:8 Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the Lord, he handed them over to you! 16:9 Certainly¹² the Lord watches the whole earth carefully¹³ and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him.¹⁴ You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war. 16:10 Asa was so angry at the prophet, he put him in jail.¹⁵ Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time.

Asa’s Reign Ends

16:11 The events of Asa’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.¹⁶ 16:12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a foot disease.¹⁷ Though his disease was severe, he did not seek the Lord, but only the doctors.¹⁸ 16:13 Asa passed away¹⁹ in the forty-first year of his reign. 16:14 He was buried in the tomb he had carved out in the City of David.²⁰ They laid him to rest on a bier covered with spices and assorted mixtures of ointments. They made a huge bonfire to honor him.²¹

¹tn Heb “and he built up Ramah so as to not permit going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.”

²tn Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”

³tn Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”

⁴tn Heb “and Ben Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of the armies which belonged to him against the cities of Israel.”

⁵tn Heb “They struck down.”

⁶sn In the parallel passage in 1 Kgs 15:20, this city’s name appears as Abel Beth Maacah. These appear to be variant names for the same place.

⁷tn Heb “building.”

⁸tn Heb “and he caused his work to cease.”

⁹tn Heb “and King Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its wood which Baasha had built.”

¹⁰tn Heb “and he built with them.”

¹¹tn Heb “the seer.”

¹²tn Or “for.”

¹³tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord move quickly through all the earth.”

¹⁴tn Heb “to strengthen himself with their heart, [the one] complete toward him.”

¹⁵tn Heb “and Asa was angry at the seer, and he put him [in] the house of stocks, because of his rage with him over this.”

¹⁶tn Heb “Look, the events of Asa, the former and the latter, look, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.”

¹⁷tn Heb “became sick in his feet.”

¹⁸tn Heb “unto upwards [i.e., very severe [was] his sickness, and even in his sickness he did not seek the Lord, only the healers.

¹⁹tn Heb “lay down with his fathers, and he died.”

²⁰sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

²¹tn Heb “and they burned for him a large fire, very great.”