Asa King of Israel

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel,
Asa became king of Judah,
and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years.
His grandmother's name was Maacah
daughter of Abishalom.

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
as his father David had done.
He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land
and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made.
He even deposed his grandmother Maacah
from her position as queen mother,
because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole.
Asa cut the pole down
and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Although he did not remove the high places,
Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.

In his old age, however,
his feet became diseased.
Then Asa rested with his fathers
and was buried with them in the city of his father David.
(I Kings 15:9-14,23-24)