Judah's King Asa
9 In the twentieth year of Israel's King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah;
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he reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
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Asa did what was right in the Lord's eyes, as his ancestor David had done.
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He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all of the idols that his fathers had made.
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He also removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
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The high places were not taken away; but Asa's heart was completely with the Lord his entire life.
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He brought his father's consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord's temple: silver, gold, and utensils.
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There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
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Israel's King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to deny anyone access to Judah's King Asa.
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So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and the treasuries of the royal palace and put it into the hands of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, saying,
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"There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me."
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Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinneroth, and the whole land of Naphtali.
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When Baasha heard [about it], he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.
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Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah with them.
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The rest of all the events of Asa's [reign], along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings. But in his old age he developed a disease in his feet.
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Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his forefather David. His son Jehoshaphat became king in his place.