1 Kings 15

1 After Jeroboam had been the king of Israel for almost 18 years, Abijah became the king of Judah.

And in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam son of Nebat, reigned hath Abijam over Judah;

2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, the granddaughter of [David’s son] Absalom.

three years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Maachah daughter of Abishalom;

3 Abijah committed the same kind of sins that his father had committed. He was not fully dedicated/committed to Yahweh his God, as his grandfather David had been.

and he walketh in all the sins of his father, that he did before him, and his heart hath not been perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father;

4 But, because of [what Yahweh his God had promised to] David, Yahweh gave Abijah a son [MET] to rule in Jerusalem after him, and in order to protect Jerusalem [from their enemies].

but for David's sake hath Jehovah his God given to him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem,

5 Yahweh did that because David had always done what pleased Yahweh and because David had always obeyed Yahweh. The only time when he disobeyed Yahweh was when he caused Uriah [to be killed].

in that David did that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah, and turned not aside from all that He commanded him all days of his life — only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite;

6 There were wars between [the armies of] Rehoboam and Jeroboam all during the time that Abijah ruled.

and war hath been between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7 Everything else that Abijah did is written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

And the rest of the matters of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And war hath been between Abijam and Jeroboam;

8 Abijah died [EUP] and was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’, and his son Asa became king.

and Abijam lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the city of David, and reign doth Asa his son in his stead.

9 After Jeroboam had been the king of Israel for almost 20 years, Asa started to rule Judah.

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned hath Asa over Judah,

10 He ruled in Jerusalem for 41 years. His grandmother was Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom.

and forty and one years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Maachah daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what was pleasing to Yahweh, as his ancestor David had done.

And Asa doth that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah, like David his father,

12 He got rid of the male prostitutes that were at the places where the people worshiped idols, and he also got rid of all the idols that his ancestors had made.

and removeth the whoremongers out of the land, and turneth aside all the idols that his fathers made;

13 He also removed his grandmother Maacah so that she no longer had influence in the government [because of] being the mother of a previous king. He did that because she had made a disgusting [wooden] statue of the goddess Asherah. Asa [told his workers to] cut down the statue and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

and also Maachah his mother — he turneth her aside from being mistress, in that she made a horrible thing for a shrine, and Asa cutteth down her horrible thing, and burneth [it] by the brook Kidron;

14 He was not able to destroy all the places where the people worshiped [idols] on the high hills, but he continued to be dedicated/committed to Yahweh his entIre life.

and the high places have not turned aside; only, the heart of Asa hath been perfect with Jehovah all his days,

15 He [told his workers to] place in the temple all the items that his father had dedicated to God, and all the gold and silver things that he had dedicated to God.

and he bringeth in the sanctified things of his father, and his own sanctified things, to the house of Jehovah, silver, and gold, and vessels.

16 There were wars between [the armies of] Asa and Baasha, the king of Israel, all during the time that they ruled.

And war hath been between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days,

17 Baasha’s army invaded Judah. They captured Ramah [town north of Jerusalem]. Then they started to build a wall around it in order to prevent people from entering or leaving the area in Judah that was ruled by King Asa.

and Baasha king of Israel goeth up against Judah, and buildeth Ramah, not to permit any one going out and coming in to Asa king of Judah.

18 So Asa [told] his workers [to] take all the silver and gold that was still in the storerooms in the temple and in the palace. He told them to take it to Damascus and give it to King Ben-Hadad who ruled Syria. Ben-Hadad was the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion. He told the workers to say this to Ben-Hadad:

And Asa taketh all the silver and the gold that are left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the house of the king, and giveth them into the hand of his servants, and king Asa sendeth them unto Ben-Hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion king of Aram, who is dwelling in Damascus, saying,

19 “I want there to be a peace treaty between you and me, like there was between your father and my father. For that reason, I am giving you this silver and gold. So now please cancel the treaty that you made with Baasha, the king of Israel, in order that he will take his soldiers away from attacking mine, [because he will be afraid of your army].”

'A covenant [is] between me and thee, between my father and thy father; lo, I have sent to thee a reward of silver and gold; go, break thy covenant with Baasha king of Israel, and he goeth up from off me.'

20 [So the workers went and gave the message to] Ben-Hadad, [and he] did what Asa suggested. He sent his army commanders [and their soldiers] to attack some of the towns in Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Maacah, the area near Galilee Lake, and all the land of [the tribe of] Naphtali.

And Ben-Hadad hearkeneth unto king Asa, and sendeth the heads of the forces that he hath against cities of Israel, and smiteth Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-Beth-Maachah, and all Chinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali;

21 When Baasha heard about that, he [told his soldiers to] stop working at Ramah. He [and his soldiers returned to] Tirzah [and] stayed there.

and it cometh to pass at Baasha's hearing, that he ceaseth from building Ramah, and dwelleth in Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa sent a message to all the [people in the] towns in Judah, stating that they all were required to go to Ramah and carry away the stones and timber that Baasha’s soldiers had been using to build a wall around the city. With those stones and timber they fortified Mizpah [city north of Jerusalem], and Geba, [a town] in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

And king Asa hath summoned all Judah — there is none exempt — and they lift up the stones of Ramah, and its wood, that Baasha hath built, and king Asa buildeth with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23 Everything else that Asa did, the armies that his soldiers defeated, and the names of the cities that he caused to be fortified, are [RHQ] written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’. But when Asa became old, he got a disease in his feet.

And the rest of all the matters of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? Only, at the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet;

24 He died [EUP] and was buried where his ancestors were buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’. Then his son Jehoshaphat became king.

and Asa lieth with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigneth in his stead.

25 After Asa had been the king of Judah for almost two years, King Jeroboam’s son Nadab started to rule Israel. He ruled for two years.

And Nadab son of Jeroboam hath reigned over Israel, in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigneth over Israel two years,

26 He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil. His behavior was sinful like his father’s behavior had been, and what he did led the people of Israel to sin.

and doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and goeth in the way of his father, and in his sin that he made Israel to sin.

27 [A man named] Baasha, from the tribe of Issachar, planned to harm him. He killed Nadab when Nadab and his army had surrounded Gibbethon [city] in the Philistia area.

And conspire against him doth Baasha son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, and Baasha smiteth him in Gibbethon, which [is] to the Philistines — and Nadab and all Israel are laying siege against Gibbethon —

28 That [DOU] was when Asa had been [the king ruling] Judah for almost three years. Then Baasha became the king of Israel.

yea, Baasha putteth him to death in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigneth in his stead.

29 As soon as Baasha became king, [he commanded his soldiers to] kill all of Jeroboam’s family. Doing what Yahweh had told the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh would happen, they killed all of Jeroboam’s family. None of them (was left/remained alive).

And it cometh to pass, at his reigning, he hath smitten the whole house of Jeroboam, he hath not left any breathing to Jeroboam till his destroying him, according to the word of Jehovah, that He spake by the hand of His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

30 That happened because Yahweh had become very angry with Jeroboam because of all the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because of the sins that he had persuaded the people of Israel to commit.

because of the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned, and that he caused Israel to sin, by his provocation with which he provoked to anger Jehovah, God of Israel.

31 Everything else that Nadab did is written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.

And the rest of the matters of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

32 There were wars between [the armies of] King Asa and King Baasha all the time that they ruled.

And war hath been between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

33 After Asa had been the king of Judah for almost three years, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, started to rule Israel at Tirzah [city]. He ruled for 24 years.

In the third year of Asa king of Judah reigned hath Baasha son of Ahijah over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years,

34 He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil, and his behavior was sinful like his father’s had been, and he led the people of Israel to sin.

and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and walketh in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin that he caused Israel to sin.