1. Abijam became king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Nebat’s son.
2. He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, and she was Abishalom’s daughter.
3. Abijam followed all the sinful ways of his father before him. He didn’t follow the Lord his God with all his heart like his ancestor David.
4. Even so, on account of David, the Lord his God gave Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem by supporting his son who succeeded him and by preserving Jerusalem.
5. This was because David did the right thing in the Lord’s eyes. David didn’t deviate from anything the Lord commanded him throughout his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
6. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as Abijam lived.
7. The rest of Abijam’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
8. Abijam lay down with his ancestors; he was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.
9. In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah.
10. He ruled in Jerusalem for forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah; she was Abishalom’s daughter.
11. Asa did the right things in the Lord’s eyes, just like his father David.
12. He removed the consecrated workers from the land, and he did away with all the worthless idols that his predecessors had made.
13. He even removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she had made an image of Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burned it in the Kidron Valley.