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THE MESSAGE

1 Kings 15:16

But through much of his reign there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel. Baasha king of Israel started it by building a fort at Ramah and closing the border between Israel and Judah so no one could enter or leave Judah.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Asa;   Baasha;   Israel;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Thompson Chain Reference - Asa;   Baasha;   Israel;   Israel-The Jews;   Kings of Israel;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Kings;   War;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Asa;   Baasha;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Artaxerxes;   Baasha;   Ben-hadad;   Judah, tribe and kingdom;   Syria;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Alliances;   Kings, the Books of;   Maachah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Baasha;   Ben-Hadad;   Damascus;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Ramah;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Baasha ;   Damascus;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Baasha;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Asa;   Baasha;   Benhadad;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Alliances;   Asa;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns.
Hebrew Names Version
There was war between Asa and Ba`sha king of Yisra'el all their days.
King James Version
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
English Standard Version
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
New Century Version
There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all the time they were kings.
New English Translation
Now Asa and King Baasha of Israel were continually at war with each other.
Amplified Bible
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
New American Standard Bible
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And there was warre betweene Asa and Baasha King of Israel all their dayes.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Contemporary English Version
Asa was always at war with King Baasha of Israel.
Complete Jewish Bible
There was war between Asa and Ba‘sha king of Isra'el as long as they both lived.
Darby Translation
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Easy-to-Read Version
The whole time that King Asa was king of Judah, he fought a war against King Baasha of Israel.
George Lamsa Translation
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Good News Translation
King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.
Lexham English Bible
There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all of their days.
Literal Translation
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And there was warre betwene Asa & Baesa the kynge of Israel, as longe as they lyued.
American Standard Version
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Bible in Basic English
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And there was warre betweene Asa, & Baasa king of Israel all their dayes.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And there was war between Asa and Baasa king of Israel all their days.
King James Version (1611)
And there was war betweene Asa and Baasha King of Israel all their dayes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And there was war between Asa and Baasa king of Israel all their days.
English Revised Version
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Berean Standard Bible
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their days.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe batel was bitwixe Asa and Baasa, kyng of Israel, in alle the daies of hem.
Young's Literal Translation
And war hath been between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days,
Update Bible Version
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
Webster's Bible Translation
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
World English Bible
There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
New King James Version
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
New Living Translation
There was constant war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel.
New Life Bible
There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
New Revised Standard
There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel all their days.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And there was, war, between Asa and Baasha king of Israel, all their days.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there was war between Asa, and Baasa, king of Israel, all their days.
Revised Standard Version
And there was war between Asa and Ba'asha king of Israel all their days.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

Contextual Overview

9In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began his rule over Judah. He ruled for forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah. 11Asa conducted himself well before God , reviving the ways of his ancestor David. He cleaned house: He got rid of the sacred prostitutes and threw out all the idols his predecessors had made. Asa spared nothing and no one; he went so far as to remove Queen Maacah from her position because she had built a shockingly obscene memorial to the whore goddess Asherah. Asa tore it down and burned it up in the Kidron Valley. Unfortunately, he didn't get rid of the local sex-and-religion shrines. But he was well-intentioned—his heart was in the right place, in tune with God . All the gold and silver vessels and artifacts that he and his father had consecrated for holy use he installed in The Temple. 16But through much of his reign there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel. Baasha king of Israel started it by building a fort at Ramah and closing the border between Israel and Judah so no one could enter or leave Judah. 18Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of The Temple of God and the royal palace, gave it to his servants, and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, with this message: "Let's make a treaty like the one between our fathers. I'm showing my good faith with this gift of silver and gold. Break your deal with Baasha king of Israel so he'll quit fighting against me." 20Ben-Hadad went along with King Asa and sent out his troops against the towns of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and the entire region of Kinnereth, including Naphtali. When Baasha got the report he quit fortifying Ramah and pulled back to Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa issued orders to everyone in Judah—no exemptions—to haul away the logs and stones Baasha had used in the fortification of Ramah and use them to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah. 23A full account of Asa's life, all the great things he did and the fortifications he constructed, is written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. In his old age he developed severe gout. Then Asa died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jehoshaphat became king after him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Kings 15:6, 1 Kings 15:7, 1 Kings 15:32, 1 Kings 14:30, 2 Chronicles 16:1-6

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 3:1 - long war 1 Kings 15:27 - Baasha the son 2 Chronicles 15:19 - five and thirtieth

Cross-References

Genesis 15:5
Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"
Genesis 15:8
Abram said, "Master God , how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
Genesis 15:9
God said, "Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon."
Exodus 12:40
The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, God 's entire army left Egypt. God kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because God kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor God by keeping watch this night—a watchnight.
Daniel 8:23
"‘As their kingdoms cool down and rebellions heat up, A king will show up, hard-faced, a master trickster. His power will swell enormously. He'll talk big, high-handedly, Doing whatever he pleases, knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right. He'll plot and scheme to make crime flourish— and oh, how it will flourish! He'll think he's invincible and get rid of anyone who gets in his way. But when he takes on the Prince of all princes, he'll be smashed to bits— but not by human hands. This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning, is accurate but confidential. Keep it to yourself. It refers to the far future.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days:] That is as long as they lived together; for Baasha died many years before Asa, and this must be reckoned from the time the war began between them. Baasha did not begin his reign until the third year of Asa, 1 Kings 15:25 and in the first ten years of Asa's reign the land was quiet and free from war, 2 Chronicles 14:1 of which there must be seven in the reign of Baasha, who is here made mention of out of course, for Nadab reigned before him, 1 Kings 15:25, the reason of which Abarbinel thinks is, that the historian, having given an account of the good deeds of Asa, relates his failings before he proceeds to the other part of his history.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Baasha became king of Israel in the third year of Asa 1 Kings 15:33. The petty warfare which ordinarily prevailed on the borders of the two kingdoms continued “all the days” of Asa and Baasha. During the first ten years of Asa’s reign he was little molested 2 Chronicles 14:1, 2 Chronicles 14:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 15:16. There was war — That is, there was continual enmity; see on 1 Kings 15:6. But there was no open war till the thirty-sixth year of Asa, when Baasha, king of Israel, began to build Ramah, that he might prevent all communication between Israel and Judah; see 2 Chronicles 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:1. But this does not agree with what is said here, 1 Kings 16:8-9, that Elah, the son and successor of Baasha, was killed by Zimri, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Asa. Chronologers endeavour to reconcile this by saying that the years should be reckoned, not from the beginning of the reign of Asa, but from the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It is most certain that Baasha could not make war upon Asa in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, when it is evident from this chapter that he was dead in the twenty-sixth year of that king. We must either adopt the mode of solution given by chronologists, or grant that there is a mistake in some of the numbers; most likely in the parallel places in Chronicles, but which we have no direct means of correcting. But the reader may compare 2 Chronicles 14:1, with 2 Chronicles 15:10; 2 Chronicles 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:1.


 
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