2 Chronicles Chapter 16
Asa’s Final Years
1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa. 2 Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of Yahveh’s Temple and the king’s palace, and sent them to Benhadad, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, and said, 3 “Let’s make a treaty between us, like the one between our fathers. I’ve sent you silver and gold; go break your treaty with Baasha so he’ll withdraw from me.” 4 Benhadad listened and sent his armies against the towns in Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and the store towns in Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard about it, he stopped fortifying Ramah. 6 Then King Asa brought Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber from Ramah that Baasha had been using, and with them Asa fortified Geba and Mizpah. 2 Ch 16:1-6
7 At that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa,
“Because you’ve relied on the king of Aram instead of me, his army has escaped. 8 Weren’t the Nubians and Lybians an immense army with lots of chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on Yahveh, he delivered them to you. 9 HisY eyes scan over the world so he can strongly support the ones whose hearts are completely his. You’ve acted foolishly in this. From now on you’ll have wars.”
10 Asa was mad at the seer for saying that and put him in stocks in prison. At the same time, he perpetrated cruelties on some of the people.
11 The acts of Asa, first to last, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa got a serious infection in his feet; yet even in his disease he didn’t look to Yahveh but to doctors. 13 He died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in a tomb he’d hewn out for himself in The City of David. They laid him on a bier he’d filled with various spices prepared by incense makers. They built a big fire in his honor. 2 Ch 16:7-14