2 Chronicles 16

Baasha Fortifies Ramah

1In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, so that no one could go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3“There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.” 4Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. 5When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work. 6Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. With them he built Geba and Mizpah.

Hanani Rebukes Asa

7At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied upon the king of Aram and did not rely upon the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8Were not the Cushites and Libyans a very great army, with chariots and horsemen in great abundance? Yet because you relied upon the LORD, he gave them into your hand. 9For the eyes of the LORD range throughout all the earth to show himself strong for those whose heart is whole toward him. You have acted foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” 10Then Asa became angry with the seer and put him in the house of the stocks, for he was enraged with him because of this. Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

Asa’s Final Years

11And look, the acts of Asa, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet, and his disease became very severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD but the physicians. 13Asa lay down with his ancestors and died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14They buried him in his own tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier filled with spices and various blended ointments, and they made a very great burning for him.