1 In Asa’s 36th year as king, {\cf2\super [194]} Baasha attacked the country of Judah. Baasha was the king of Israel. He went to the town of Ramah and made it into a fortress. {\cf2\super [195]} Baasha used the town of Ramah as a place to stop people from going in or coming out to King Asa of Judah.
1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
1 IN THE thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built (fortified) Ramah intending to intercept anyone going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.
1 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s rule, Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area.
1 Then, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, Baasha, the king of Israel, ascended against Judah. And he encircled Ramah with a wall, so that no one could safely depart or enter from the kingdom of Asa.
Then Asa gathered all the people from Judah and Benjamin. He also gathered the people from the family groups of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had moved from the country of Israel to live in the country of Judah. A great many of those people came to Judah because they saw that the Lord, Asa’s God, was with Asa.
Asa took silver and gold out of the storehouses in the Lord’s temple. {\cf2\super [196]} And he took silver and gold out of the king’s house. Then Asa sent messengers to Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad was the king of Aram and he was living in the town of Damascus. Asa’s message said:
(Ishmael threw the dead bodies into the cistern until it was full—and that cistern was very big! It had been built by a king of Judah named Asa. King Asa had made the cistern so that during war there would be water in the city. {\cf2\super [339]} Asa did this to protect his city from Baasha, the king of Israel.)
The message from the Lord came to Jeremiah after he was set free at the city of Ramah. Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king of Babylon’s special guards, found Jeremiah in Ramah. Jeremiah was bound with chains. He was with all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah. Those captives were being taken away in captivity to Babylon.