16Asa even removed his grandmother Ma'akah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image and crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
17The high places, however, were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was completely committed throughout all his days. 18He brought silver and gold and vessels and utensils to the House of the Lord as dedicated offerings for himself and his father.
Asa's Treaty With Aram
19There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.
161In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Ba'asha king of Israel attacked Judah, and he fortified Ramah, in order to keep anyone from going in or coming out from Asa king of Judah. 2So Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the House of the Lord and from the palace of the king and sent it to Ben Hadad king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus.
He said, 3“There should be a treaty between you and me as there was between my father and your father. Look! I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Ba'asha 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 conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim,[] and all the towns for storehouses in Naphtali. 5When Ba'asha heard about it, he stopped building Ramah and put an end to his work on it. 6King Asa then summoned all Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and the timber which Ba'asha had been using to build it. With them he built Geba and Mizpah.