2 Chronicles 12–14

Shishak Attacks Jerusalem

12:9–16pp—1Ki 14:21, 25–31

12After Rehoboam’s position as king was established^e and he had become strong,^f he and all Israel^ag with him abandoned^h the law of the Lord. ²Because they had been unfaithfulⁱ to the Lord, Shishak^j king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. ³With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans,^k Sukkites and Cushites^bl that came with him from Egypt, ⁴he captured the fortified cities^m of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

⁵Then the prophet Shemaiahⁿ came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon^o you to Shishak.’ ”

⁶The leaders of Israel and the king humbled^p themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”^q

⁷When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance.^r My wrath^s will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. ⁸They will, however, become subject^t to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

⁹When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields^u Solomon had made. ¹⁰So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. ¹¹Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

¹²Because Rehoboam humbled^v himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good^w in Judah.

¹³King Rehoboam established^x himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name.^y His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. ¹⁴He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.

¹⁵As for the events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah^z the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ¹⁶Rehoboam^a rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah^b his son succeeded him as king.

Abijah King of Judah

13:1–2,22–14:1pp—1Ki 15:1–2,6–8

13In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah, ²and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maakah,^ac a daughter^b of Uriel of Gibeah.

There was war between Abijah^d and Jeroboam.^{e 3}Abijah went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.

⁴Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim,^f in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel,^g listen to me! ⁵Don’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever^h by a covenant of salt?^{i 6}Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled^j against his master. ⁷Some worthless scoundrels^k gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive^l and not strong enough to resist them.

⁸“And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David’s descendants.^m You are indeed a vast army and have with youⁿ the golden calves^o that Jeroboam made to be your gods. ⁹But didn’t you drive out the priests^p of the Lord,^q the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull^r and seven rams^s may become a priest of what are not gods.^t

¹⁰“As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. ¹¹Every morning and evening^u they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense^v to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table^w and light the lamps^x on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. ¹²God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you.^y People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord,^z the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”^a

¹³Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush^b was behind them. ¹⁴Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out^c to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets ¹⁵and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel^d before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered^e them into their hands. ¹⁷Abijah and his troops inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five hundred thousand casualties among Israel’s able men. ¹⁸The Israelites were subdued on that occasion, and the people of Judah were victorious because they relied^f on the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages. ²⁰Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down and he died.

²¹But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²The other events of Abijah’s reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.

14^aAnd Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace for ten years.

Asa King of Judah

14:2–3pp—1Ki 15:11–12

²Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.^{g 3}He removed the foreign altars^h and the high places, smashed the sacred stonesⁱ and cut down the Asherah poles.^{bj 4}He commanded Judah to seek the Lord,^k the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. ⁵He removed the high places^l and incense altars^m in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. ⁶He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest.ⁿ

⁷“Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest^o on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸Asa had an army of three hundred thousand^p men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.

⁹Zerah the Cushite^q marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.^{r 10}Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

¹¹Then Asa called^s to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us,^t Lord our God, for we rely^u on you, and in your name^v we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail^w against you.”

¹²The Lord struck down^x the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, ¹³and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar.^y Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed^z before the Lord and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder.^{a 14}They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror^b of the Lord had fallen on them. They looted all these villages, since there was much plunder there. ¹⁵They also attacked the camps of the herders and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.