2 Chronicles 13–14

CHAPTER 13

Abijah Reigns over Judah

^1aIn the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

^aNow there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³And Abijah began the battle with a military force of mighty men, 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam arranged them all for battle against him with 800,000 chosen men who were mighty men of valor.

God Smites Israel Before Judah

⁴Then Abijah rose up on Mount ^aZemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵“Do you not know that ^aYahweh, the God of Israel, gave the rule over Israel forever to David ¹and his sons by ^ba covenant of salt?

⁶“Yet ^aJeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ¹master,

⁷and worthless men gathered about him, vile men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon; ^1ahe was young and timid and could not exert his strength before them.

⁸“So now you ¹intend to exert your strength before the kingdom of Yahweh by the hand of the sons of David, ²being a great multitude and having with you ^athe golden calves which Jeroboam made for gods for you.

⁹“^aHave you not driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^bto ordain himself with a bull from the herd and seven rams, even he may become a priest of what are ^cno gods.

¹⁰“But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to Yahweh as priests, and the Levites are in their work.

¹¹“And every morning and evening ^athey ¹burn to Yahweh burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and ^bthe showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we keep the responsibility given by Yahweh our God, but you have forsaken Him.

¹²“And behold, God is with us at our head and ^aHis priests with the signal trumpets to raise the shout of war against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³But Jeroboam ^ahad encircled an ambush to come from the rear, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴So Judah turned around, and behold, ¹they were attacked both front and rear; so ^athey cried to Yahweh, and the priests blew the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah raised a shout of war, and when the men of Judah raised the shout of war, then it was that God ^asmote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶So the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and ^aGod gave them into their hand.

¹⁷And Abijah and his people struck them down with a great slaughter, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁸Thus the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah were strong ^abecause they leaned upon Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its towns, Jeshanah with its towns, and ¹Ephron with its towns.

Death of Jeroboam

²⁰Now Jeroboam did not again recover power in the days of Abijah; and ^aYahweh smote him and ^bhe died.

²¹But Abijah became stronger; and he took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in ^athe ¹treatise of ^bthe prophet Iddo.

CHAPTER 14

Asa Reigns over Judah

^11aSo Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was quiet for ten years during his days.

²¹And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Yahweh his God,

³for he removed ^athe foreign altars and ^bhigh places, shattered the sacred pillars, cut the ^1cAsherim in pieces,

⁴and said for Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

⁵He also ¹removed the high places and the ^aincense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was quiet before him.

^6aAnd he built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was quiet, and ¹there was no one at war with him during those years, ^bbecause Yahweh had given him rest.

⁷And he said to Judah, “^aLet us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ¹ours because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded.

⁸Now Asa had a military force of ^a300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were mighty men of valor.

⁹Then Zerah the Ethiopian ^awent out against them with a military force of one million men and 300 chariots, and he came to ^bMareshah.

¹⁰So Asa went out ¹to meet him, and they arranged themselves for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹Then Asa ^acalled to Yahweh his God and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between those of abundant power and those who have no power; so help us, O Yahweh our God, ^bfor we lean on You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, You are our God; let not mortal man prevail against You.”

¹²So ^aYahweh smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^aGerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that ¹they could not recover, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before His ²army. And they carried away very much spoil.

¹⁴And they struck down all the cities around Gerar, ^afor the dread of Yahweh had fallen on them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.

¹⁵They also struck down ¹those who owned livestock, and they carried away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.