¹In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³And Abijah began the war with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valour. ⁴And Abijah stood up on the top of mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel! ⁵Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord. ⁷And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them. ⁸And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God. ¹⁰But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work: ¹¹and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. ¹²And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; and they were before Judah, and the ambush behind them. ¹⁴And Judah looked back, and behold, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. ¹⁵And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; and there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸And the children of Israel were humbled at that time, and the children of Judah were strengthened, because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its dependent villages, and Jeshanah with its dependent villages, and Ephron with its dependent villages. ²⁰And Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died. ²¹But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.

Chapter 14

¹And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. ²And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Jehovah his God; ³and he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs; ⁴and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, and to practise the law and the commandment. ⁵And he removed out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images; and the kingdom was quiet before him. ⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because Jehovah had given him rest. ⁷And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us; for we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. And they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army that bore targets and spears: out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew the bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these, mighty men of valour.

⁹And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. ¹⁰And Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, it maketh no difference to thee to help, whether there be much or no power: help us, O Jehovah our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name have we come against this multitude. Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. ¹²And Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the terror of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them. ¹⁵They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

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