Asa

7At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah. He said, "You trusted the king of Syria. You did not trust the LORD your God. So the Syrian army has slipped away from you."

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

NoteA seer was a kind of prophet. God showed him things, and he told them to people. Kings did not always like what he said.

8"The people of Ethiopia and Libya had a huge army. They had many chariots and men on horses. But that time you trusted the LORD. So he handed them over to you."

Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.

NoteEthiopia and Libya were lands far away to the south. A chariot was a small cart pulled by horses. Soldiers rode in it to fight. Asa had won a battle against that army years before.

9"The LORD looks all over the earth. He is looking for people whose hearts belong fully to him. He shows his strength by helping them. This time you acted foolishly. From now on you will have wars."

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

NoteWhen the Bible says heart, it usually does not mean the part that beats. It means the inside of a person: what you love and what you choose.

10Asa was angry with the seer. He was so angry that he locked him up in prison. At that same time, Asa was cruel to some of his own people.

Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

11The things Asa did, from first to last, were written down. You can read them in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

NoteKings had helpers who wrote down what they did. Those record books are gone now. But the person who wrote this book had read them.

12In his thirty-ninth year as king, Asa got a disease in his feet. It grew worse and worse. Even then he did not ask the LORD for help. He asked only the doctors.

And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

NoteDoctors long ago did not know much about sickness. They used oils, plants, and bandages. There was no medicine like we have today.

13Asa died, just as his fathers had died before him. It was his forty-first year as king.

And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

Note"Slept with his fathers" is a gentle way of saying he died. His fathers means the family members who lived before him.

14They buried him in the tomb he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bed piled with sweet spices and mixed perfumes. Then they made a great fire to honor him.

And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.

NoteA tomb was a room cut into a rock hill. A dead body was laid inside it. The City of David was the oldest part of Jerusalem. Kings were buried there. The sweet spices had a strong, good smell. The big fire burned spices to honor the king. His body was not burned.