2 Chronicles 12–14

Egypt Attacks Judah

12Now ^ait came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that ^bhe forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him. ^2cAnd it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, ³with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt—^dthe Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. ⁴And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.

⁵Then ^eShemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’ ”

⁶So the leaders of Israel and the king ^fhumbled themselves; and they said, ^g“The Lord is righteous.”

⁷Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, ^hthe word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸Nevertheless ⁱthey will be his servants, that they may distinguish ^jMy service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.”

^9kSo Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had ^lmade. ¹⁰Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them ^mto the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. ¹¹And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them back into the guardroom. ¹²When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam’s Reign

¹³Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now ⁿRehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, ^othe city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an ^pAmmonitess. ¹⁴And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, ^qand of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? ^rAnd there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶So Rehoboam ¹rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. Then ^sAbijah ²his son reigned in his place.

Abijah Reigns in Judah

13In ^athe eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over ^bJudah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ¹Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.

⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount ^cZemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel: ⁵Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel ^dgave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, ^eby a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and ^frebelled against his lord. ⁷Then ^gworthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was ^hyoung and inexperienced and could not withstand them. ⁸And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam ⁱmade for you as gods. ^9jHave you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, ^kso that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of ^lthings that are not gods? ¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our ^mGod, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. ¹¹ⁿAnd they burn to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the ^oshowbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps ^pto burn every evening; for we keep the command of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him. ¹²Now look, God Himself is with us as our ^qhead, ^rand His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they ^scried out to the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God ^tstruck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, ^ubecause they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.

¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and ^vEphrain ²with its villages. ²⁰So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord ^wstruck him, and ^xhe died.

²¹But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in ^ythe ³annals of the prophet Iddo.

14So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then ^aAsa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.

Asa Reigns in Judah

²Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, ³for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and ^bthe ¹high places, and ^cbroke down the sacred pillars ^dand cut down the wooden images. ⁴He commanded Judah to ^eseek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. ⁵He also removed the ²high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. ⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him ^frest. ⁷Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried ³shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew ^gbows; all these were mighty men of ^hvalor.

⁹ⁱThen Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^jMareshah. ¹⁰So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa ^kcried out to the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, it is ^lnothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and ^min Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”

¹²So the Lord ⁿstruck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to ^oGerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much ⁴spoil. ¹⁴Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for ^pthe fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much ⁵spoil in them. ¹⁵They also ⁶attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.