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The LORD spoke to the prophet Jehu son of Hanani and gave him this message for Baasha:
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"You were a nobody, but I made you the leader of my people Israel. And now you have sinned like Jeroboam and have led my people into sin. Their sins have aroused my anger,
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and so I will do away with you and your family, just as I did with Jeroboam.
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Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures."
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Everything else that Baasha did and all his brave deeds are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
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Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king.
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That message from the LORD against Baasha and his family was given by the prophet Jehu because of the sins that Baasha committed against the LORD. He aroused the LORD's anger not only because of the evil he did, just as King Jeroboam had done before him, but also because he killed all of Jeroboam's family.
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In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for two years.
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Zimri, one of his officers who was in charge of half of the king's chariots, plotted against him. One day in Tirzah, Elah was getting drunk in the home of Arza, who was in charge of the palace.
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Zimri entered the house, assassinated Elah, and succeeded him as king. This happened in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah.
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As soon as Zimri became king he killed off all the members of Baasha's family. Every male relative and friend was put to death.
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And so, in accordance with what the LORD had said against Baasha through the prophet Jehu, Zimri killed all the family of Baasha.
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Because of their idolatry and because they led Israel into sin, Baasha and his son Elah had aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel.
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Everything else that Elah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
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In the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Zimri ruled in Tirzah over Israel for seven days. The Israelite troops were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia,
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and when they heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and assassinated him, then and there they all proclaimed their commander Omri king of Israel.
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Omri and his troops left Gibbethon and went and besieged Tirzah.
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When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the palace's inner fortress, set the palace on fire, and died in the flames.
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This happened because of his sins against the LORD. Like his predecessor Jeroboam, he displeased the LORD by his own sins and by leading Israel into sin.
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Everything else that Zimri did, including the account of his conspiracy, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
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The people of Israel were divided: some of them wanted to make Tibni son of Ginath king, and the others were in favor of Omri.
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In the end, those in favor of Omri won out; Tibni died and Omri became king.
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So in the thirty-first year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled for twelve years. The first six years he ruled in Tirzah,
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and then he bought the hill of Samaria for six thousand pieces of silver from a man named Shemer. Omri fortified the hill, built a town there, and named it Samaria, after Shemer, the former owner of the hill.
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Omri sinned against the LORD more than any of his predecessors.
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Like Jeroboam before him, he aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, by his sins and by leading the people into sin and idolatry.
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Everything else that Omri did and all his accomplishments are recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
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Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.
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In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for twenty-two years.
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He sinned against the LORD more than any of his predecessors.
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It was not enough for him to sin like King Jeroboam; he went further and married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, and worshiped Baal.
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He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple.
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He also put up an image of the goddess Asherah. He did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel before him.
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During his reign Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. As the LORD had foretold through Joshua son of Nun, Hiel lost his oldest son Abiram when he laid the foundation of Jericho, and his youngest son Segub when he built the gates.
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The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded,
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and he went to meet King Asa. He called out, "Listen to me, King Asa, and all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you as long as you are with him. If you look for him, he will let you find him, but if you turn away, he will abandon you.
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For a long time Israel lived without the true God, without priests to teach them, and without a law.
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But when trouble came, they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel. They searched for him and found him.
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In those days no one could come and go in safety, because there was trouble and disorder in every land.
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One nation oppressed another nation, and one city oppressed another city, because God was bringing trouble and distress on them.
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But you must be strong and not be discouraged. The work that you do will be rewarded."
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When Asa heard the prophecy that Azariah son of Oded had spoken, he was encouraged. He did away with all the idols in the land of Judah and Benjamin and all the idols in the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He also repaired the altar of the LORD that stood in the Temple courtyard.
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Many people had come over to Asa's side from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, and were living in his kingdom, because they had seen that the LORD was with him. Asa summoned all of them and the people of Judah and Benjamin.
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They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year that Asa was king.
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On that day they offered sacrifices to the LORD from the loot they had brought back: seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.
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They made a covenant in which they agreed to worship the LORD, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul.
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Anyone, young or old, male or female, who did not worship him was to be put to death.
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In a loud voice they took an oath in the LORD's name that they would keep the covenant, and then they shouted and blew trumpets.
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All the people of Judah were happy because they had made this covenant with all their heart. They took delight in worshiping the LORD, and he accepted them and gave them peace on every side.
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King Asa removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol, chopped it up, and burned the pieces in Kidron Valley.
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Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship in the land, he remained faithful to the LORD all his life.
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He placed in the Temple all the objects his father Abijah had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.
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There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of his reign.
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In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.
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So Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple and the palace and sent it to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, with this message:
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"Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory."
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Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the cities of Naphtali where supplies were stored.
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When King Baasha heard what was happening, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned the work.
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Then King Asa gathered men from throughout Judah and had them carry off the stones and timbers that Baasha had been using at Ramah, and they used them to fortify the cities of Geba and Mizpah.
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At that time the prophet Hanani went to King Asa and said, "Because you relied on the king of Syria instead of relying on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Israel has escaped from you.
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Didn't the Ethiopians and the Libyans have large armies with many chariots and cavalry troops? But because you relied on the LORD, he gave you victory over them.
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The LORD keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at war."
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This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.
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All the events of Asa's reign from beginning to end are recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
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In the thirty-ninth year that Asa was king, he was crippled by a severe foot disease; but even then he did not turn to the LORD for help, but to doctors.
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Two years later he died
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and was buried in the rock tomb which he had carved out for himself in David's City. They used spices and perfumed oils to prepare his body for burial, and they built a huge bonfire to mourn his death.
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From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy---
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To God's people in Colossae, who are our faithful friends in union with Christ: May God our Father give you grace and peace.
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We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.
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For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people.
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When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven.
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The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.
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You learned of God's grace from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is Christ's faithful worker on our behalf.
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He has told us of the love that the Spirit has given you.
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For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives.
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Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.
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May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light.
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He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son,
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by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.
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Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things.
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For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him.
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Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.
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He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things.
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For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God.
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Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.
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At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought.
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But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.
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You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant---this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.
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And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, the church.
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And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message,
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which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people.
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God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.
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So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.
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To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me.
