King James Version
2 Chronicles • Chapter 16
1
In the third year of the reign of Asa king of Judah, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah so that he would not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
2
And Asa sent silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and from the house of the king, and he sent to Ben Hadad, king of Aram, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,
3
I have sent you money and gold to break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, and let him ascend from upon me.
4
And Ben Hadad heard about King Asa and he sent his commanders of the armies who were with him to the cities of Israel, and they struck Ijon and Dan and Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.
5
And it came to pass when Baasha heard, he ceased from the daughters of Ramah and stopped his work.
6
And Asa the king took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers that Baasha had built, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
7
At that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand."
8
Are not the Cushites and the Libyans as strong as you, with many chariots and horsemen? Yet, when you rely on the LORD, He will give them into your hand.
9
For the LORD’s eyes are roaming throughout all the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are whole toward Him; you have acted foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.
10
And Asa was angry at the seer and placed him in the house of the stocks because of his rage against him on this account, and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
11
And behold, the words of Asa, the first and the last, they are written on the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
12
And Asa became ill in the thirty-ninth year of his reign; his disease was severe, yet even in his illness he did not seek the Lord, but rather the physicians.
13
And Asa lay with his fathers and died in the forty-first year of his reign.
14
And they buried him in the tombs which he had dug for himself in the city of David, and they laid him to rest in the bed which was filled with spices and blended ointments; and they burned a great fire in his honor.