1 Kings 15:4-14

4 But despite that, out of respect for David, his God graciously gave him a lamp, a son to follow him and keep Jerusalem secure.
5 For David had lived an exemplary life before God all his days, not going off on his own in willful defiance of God's clear directions (except for that time with Uriah the Hittite).
6 But war continued between Abijah and Jeroboam the whole time.
7 The rest of Abijah's life, everything he did, is written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. But the war with Jeroboam was the dominant theme.
8 Abijah died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Asa was king after him.
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began his rule over Judah.
10 He ruled for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah.
11 Asa conducted himself well before God, reviving the ways of his ancestor David.
12 He cleaned house: He got rid of the sacred prostitutes and threw out all the idols his predecessors had made.
13 Asa spared nothing and no one; he went so far as to remove Queen Maacah from her position because she had built a shockingly obscene memorial to the whore goddess Asherah. Asa tore it down and burned it up in the Kidron Valley.
14 Unfortunately, he didn't get rid of the local sex-and-religion shrines. But he was well-intentioned - his heart was in the right place, in tune with God.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.