1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign {malkhut: royal rule}, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah {ha-ramah: border stronghold}, so that he would not permit anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
2 Asa extracted silver and gold from the treasury chambers {otzerot: royal storehouses} of the house of the LORD {YHWH, Giver of Provision} and from the royal palace, then dispatched them to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, who was residing in Damascus, saying.
3 There is a covenant {berit: Binding Pact} between me and you, just as there was between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver {kesef: Tribute Payment} and gold. Go and break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.
4 Ben-Hadad listened {vayishma: listened attentively} to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They struck Ijon, Dan, Abel Mayim, and all the storehouse towns {miskenot: storage cities} of Naphtali.
5 When Baasha heard, he stopped building {binot: active construction} Ramah and brought his work {melaakhto: labor or task} to an end.
6 Then King Asa mustered all Judah, and they carried off the stones {avne: foundational stones} of Ramah {ramah: strategic height} and its timbers that Baasha had used for building; with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
7 At that moment Hanani the seer approached Asa, king of Judah, and declared, “Because your trust {sha’an: support, reliance} was placed in the king of Aram instead of in the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Personal Covenant God}, the Aramean army has escaped from your hand.”
8 Was it not the Cushites and the Lubim who formed a vast army {chayil: military force}, with a great multitude of chariots and horsemen beyond measure? Yet when you relied upon the LORD {YHWH, Mighty Deliverer}, He gave them into your hand.
9 For the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, All-Seeing Strengthener} range throughout all the earth to show Himself strong with those whose heart is whole toward Him. You have acted foolishly {niskalta: acted senselessly} concerning this; for from now on, wars will be with you.
10 And Asa became angry with the seer {haro’eh: prophetic visionary} and confined him in the house of the stocks {mahpeket: foot restrainer}, for he was enraged with him over this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
11 And look, the acts{divrei: royal deeds} of Asa, the first and the last, are indeed written in the book{sefer: court annals} of the kings of Judah and Israel.
12 And Asa became ill in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, his sickness was in his feet until it reached a critical severity. Even in his illness he did not seek the LORD {YHWH, Healer and Judge}, but only consulted the physicians {rof’im: medical practitioners}.
13 And Asa lay with his fathers {avotav: ancestral line}, and he died in the forty-first year of his reign {malko: kingship duration}.
14 And they laid him to rest in the tombs he had excavated for himself in the City of David {ir David: original Jerusalem stronghold}. They placed him on the bed that had been filled with spices {besamim: aromatic plant substances} and various blended ointments by a perfumer’s art, and they made a very great burning for him.