2 Chronicles 16

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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Asa’s treaty with Aram

¹In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah, to keep anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s palace, and sent it to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus, with this message: ³“Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. I am sending you silver and gold. Go and break off your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, and he will withdraw from me.” ⁴Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces out against the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all the store cities of Naphtali. ⁵When Baasha heard about it, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work.

⁶Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber Baasha had used to build Ramah. With them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.

Hanani rebukes Asa

⁷At that time the seer Hanani came to Asa king of Judah and told him, “You relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the LORD your God. Because of that, the army of the king of Aram has slipped out of your hand. ⁸Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a huge army, with chariots and horsemen in great numbers? But you relied on the LORD, and so he handed them over to you. ⁹For the eyes of the LORD roam over all the earth, so that he may show his strength for those whose hearts are undivided toward him. You have acted foolishly in this matter, and from this time on you will face wars.” ¹⁰Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison in the stocks, because he was furious with him over this. And at that time Asa dealt harshly with some of the people. ¹¹The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²Asa’s feet became diseased in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, and the disease grew very severe. Even in his sickness he did not seek the LORD; he sought only the physicians. ¹³Then Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴They buried him in his own tomb, which he had hewn for himself in the City of David, and laid him on a bier filled with spices and many kinds of perfumes blended by the perfumer’s art. And they made a very great fire in his honor.