2 Chronicles 13:1–22

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.