CHAPTER 15
1 Therefore in the eighteenth year of the realm of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam reigned upon Judah. (And so in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign upon Judah.)
2 Three years he reigned in Jerusalem (or He reigned for three years in Jerusalem); the name of his mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
3 And he went in all the sins of his father, which he did before him; and his heart was not perfect with his Lord God, as the heart of David, his father, was perfect.
4 But for David, his Lord God gave to him a lantern in Jerusalem, that he should raise (up) his son after him, and that he should stand in Jerusalem; (But for David’s sake, the Lord his God gave him a light,or a flame, in Jerusalem, so that he would raise up his son after him, and keep Jerusalem secure;)
5 for David had done rightfulness in the eyes of the Lord, and had not bowed [away] from all things that the Lord had commanded to him, in all the days of his life, except the word of Uriah (the) Hittite*. (for David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned away from all the things that the Lord had commanded to him, in all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.)
6 Nevertheless battle was betwixt Abijam and Jeroboam, in all the time of his life. (And there was always battle between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, in all the time of Abijam’s life.)
7 Soothly the residue of the words of Abijam, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah? And battle was betwixt Abijam and Jeroboam (or And there was always battle between Abijam and Jeroboam).
8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa, his son, reigned for him.
9 And Asa, king of Judah, reigned in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel; (And Asa, the king of Judah, began to reign in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, the king of Israel;)
10 and Asa reigned one and forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his (grand)mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
11 And Asa did rightfulness in the sight of the Lord, as David, his father, did;
12 and he took away from the land men of women’s conditions, and he purged all the filths of idols, which his fathers (had) made.
13 Furthermore and he removed Maachah, his (grand)mother, that she should not be princess in the solemn things of the idol Priapus, and in his maumet wood that she had hallowed; and he destroyed the den of him, and he brake the foulest simulacrum, and burnt it in the strand of Kidron; (And furthermore he removed Maachah, his grandmother, so that she would no longer be the queen mother, for she had erected an idol of Priapus in a grove, and worshipped it, or for she had made an obscene idol for the worship of Asherah; and he broke up, and destroyed, that most foul idol, and burned it by the Kidron Stream or and burned it in the Kidron Gorge;)
14 soothly he did not (do) away the high things†(or but he did not do away the hill shrines); nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with his Lord God, in all his days.
15 And he brought into the house of the Lord those things, which his father had hallowed, and avowed, (the) silver, and gold, and vessels.
16 Forsooth battle was betwixt Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, in all the days of them.
17 And Baasha, king of Israel, went up into Judah, and builded Ramah, that no man of the part of Asa, king of Judah, might go out, either go in. (And Baasha, the king of Israel, went up to Judah, and fortified Ramah, so that no man of Asa, the king of Judah, could come in, or could go out.)
18 Therefore Asa took all the silver and gold, that (were) left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and gave it into the hands of his servants; and he sent it to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, son of Hezion, the king of Syria, that dwelled in Damascus (or who lived in Damascus), and said,
19 A bond of peace is betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my father and thy father, and therefore I sent to thee gifts, gold, and silver; and I ask, that thou come, and make void the bond of peace, that thou hast with Baasha, king of Israel, and that he go away from me. (There is a covenant between me and thee, and between my father and thy father, and so I sent gifts of gold and silver to thee; and I ask that thou come, and dissolve the covenant, that thou hast with Baasha, the king of Israel, so that then he shall go away from me.)
20 Benhadad assented to king Asa, and sent the princes of his host into the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel, the house of Maachah (or and Abelbethmaachah), and all Cinneroth, that is, all the land of Naphtali.
21 And when Baasha had heard this thing, he left (off) to build Ramah, and turned again into Tirzah. (And when Baasha had heard of this thing, he stopped fortifying Ramah, and returned to Tirzah.)
22 Forsooth king Asa sent [a] message into all Judah, and said, No man be excused. And (so) they (all came, and) took (away) the stones of Ramah, and the trees thereof, by which Baasha had builded (it); and king Asa builded of the same stones and trees Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. (And King Asa sent a message to all Judah, and said, No man shall be excused. And so they all came, and took away the stones, and the timber, from Ramah, with which Baasha had fortified it; and King Asa used these same stones and timber to fortify Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.)
23 Soothly the residue of all the words of Asa, and of all his strength, and all things that he did, and the cities which he builded, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of [the] kings of Judah? Nevertheless Asa had (an) ache in his feet, in the time of his eld (age).
24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned for him.
25 Forsooth Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, reigned on Israel, in the second year of Asa, king of Judah; and he reigned on Israel two years. (And Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign upon Israel in the second year of Asa, the king of Judah; and he reigned upon Israel for two years.)
26 And he did that, that was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went in the ways of his father, and in the sins of him, in which he made Israel to do sin.
27 And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, setted treason to him, and he smote him in Gibbethon‡, which is a city of Philistines; and Nadab and all Israel besieged Gibbethon. (And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, set treason for him, and he struck him down in Gibbethon, which is a city of the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel besieged Gibbethon.)
28 Therefore Baasha killed him, in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned for him.
29 And when he had reigned, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not one man of his seed, till he did away him, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of his servant, Ahijah of Shiloh, a prophet, (And once he began to reign, he struck down all the house of Jeroboam; he left not one of his descendants, until he had done away all of them, by the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh,)
30 for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and in which he made Israel to do sin, and for the trespass, by which he wrathed the Lord God of Israel. (for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and in which he made Israel to do sin, and for the trespass by which he stirred the Lord God of Israel to anger.)
31 Soothly the residue of the words of Nadab, and all things which he wrought, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?
32 And battle was betwixt Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, in all the days of them. (And there was battle between Asa and Baasha, the king of Israel, in all their days.)
33 In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, reigned upon all Israel, in Tirzah, four and twenty years. (In the third year of Asa, the king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, began to reign upon all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years.)
34 And he did evil before the Lord, and he went in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin.
* CHAPTER 15:5 David sinned in the numbering of the people, and in sentence given against Mephibosheth, as it is told in (the)2nd book (of Samuel), but these sins were full little (sic*), in comparison of the sin in the deed of Uriah, and therefore these be not areckoned; for a little thing is areckoned as nothing, as the Philosopher saith in (the)2nd book of Physics. (*David’s decision to number, or to count, the people led to the death of 70,000 innocent Israelites. T.P.N.) † CHAPTER 15:14 That is, (the) high places, in which the sons of Israel made sacrifice to God, before that the temple was builded; and for that time it was leaveful, (or lawful), (but) not afterward. ‡ CHAPTER 15:27 Gibbethon was a city in the lineage of Dan, but (the) Philistines occupied it, against which city Nadab went to recover it (or and so Nadab went to recover it).