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.
15
All the gold and silver vessels and artifacts that he and his father had consecrated for holy use he installed in The Temple.
16
But through much of his reign there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel.
17
Baasha king of Israel started it by building a fort at Ramah and closing the border between Israel and Judah so no one could enter or leave Judah.
18
Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of The Temple of God and the royal palace, gave it to his servants, and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, with this message: