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New Living Translation |   | |
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| | 1Ki 15:1 | Abijam began to rule over Judah in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's reign in Israel.
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| | 1Ki 15:2 | He reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.
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| | 1Ki 15:3 | He committed the same sins as his father before him, and his heart was not right with the LORD his God, as the heart of his ancestor David had been.
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| | 1Ki 15:4 | But for David's sake, the LORD his God allowed his dynasty to continue, and he gave Abijam a son to rule after him in Jerusalem.
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| | 1Ki 15:5 | For David had done what was pleasing in the LORD's sight and had obeyed the LORD's commands throughout his life, except in the affair concerning Uriah the Hittite.
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| | 1Ki 15:6 | There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam throughout Abijam's reign.
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| | 1Ki 15:7 | The rest of the events in Abijam's reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. There was constant war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
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| | 1Ki 15:8 | When Abijam died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Asa became the next king.
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| | 1Ki 15:9 | Asa began to rule over Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam's reign in Israel.
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| | 1Ki 15:10 | He reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.
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| | 1Ki 15:11 | Asa did what was pleasing in the LORD's sight, as his ancestor David had done.
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| | 1Ki 15:12 | He banished the shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols his ancestors had made.
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| | 1Ki 15:13 | He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
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| | 1Ki 15:14 | Although the pagan shrines were not completely removed, Asa remained faithful to the LORD throughout his life.
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| | 1Ki 15:15 | He brought into the Temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the utensils that he and his father had dedicated.
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| | 1Ki 15:16 | There was constant war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel.
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| | 1Ki 15:17 | King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa's territory in Judah.
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| | 1Ki 15:18 | Asa responded by taking all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD's Temple and the royal palace. He sent it with some of his officials to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message:
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| | 1Ki 15:19 | "Let us renew the treaty that existed between your father and my father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone."
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| | 1Ki 15:20 | Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa's request and sent his armies to attack Israel. They conquered the towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Kinnereth, with all the land of Naphtali.
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| | 1Ki 15:21 | As soon as Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he abandoned his project of fortifying Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah.
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| | 1Ki 15:22 | Then King Asa sent an order throughout Judah, requiring that everyone, without exception, help to carry away the building stones and timbers that Baasha had been using to fortify Ramah. Asa used these materials to fortify the town of Geba in Benjamin and the town of Mizpah.
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| | 1Ki 15:23 | The rest of the events in Asa's reign, the extent of his power, and the names of the cities he built are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. In his old age his feet became diseased.
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| | 1Ki 15:24 | When Asa died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Jehoshaphat became the next king.
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| | 1Ki 15:25 | Nadab son of Jeroboam began to rule over Israel in the second year of King Asa's reign in Judah. He reigned in Israel two years.
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| | 1Ki 15:26 | But he did what was evil in the LORD's sight and followed the example of his father, continuing the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.
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| | 1Ki 15:27 | Then Baasha son of Ahijah, from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and assassinated him while he and the Israelite army were laying siege to the Philistine town of Gibbethon.
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| | 1Ki 15:28 | Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of King Asa's reign in Judah, and he became the next king of Israel.
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| | 1Ki 15:29 | He immediately killed all the descendants of King Jeroboam, so that not one of the royal family was left, just as the LORD had promised concerning Jeroboam by the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh.
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| | 1Ki 15:30 | This was done because Jeroboam had aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, by the sins he had committed and the sins he had led Israel to commit.
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| | 1Ki 15:31 | The rest of the events in Nadab's reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.
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| | 1Ki 15:32 | There was constant war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel.
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| | 1Ki 15:33 | Baasha began to rule over Israel in the third year of King Asa's reign in Judah. Baasha reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years.
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| | 1Ki 15:34 | But he did what was evil in the LORD's sight and followed the example of Jeroboam, continuing the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.
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