2 Chronicles 13

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.