7. Isn’t everything else about Abijam—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jer o boam.
8. Abijam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king.
9. In Jer o boam’s twentieth year as king of Israel, Asa began to rule as king of Judah.
10. He ruled 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was named Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.
11. Asa did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done.
12. He forced the male temple prostitutes out of the land and got rid of the idols his father had made.
13. He also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa cut the statue down and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
14. Although the illegal worship sites were not torn down, Asa remained committed to the Lord his entire life.