2 Chronicles 13

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³And Abijah engaged in battle with an army of valiant warriors of battle, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam drew up against him in battle with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty warriors.

⁴Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, 'Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel!'

⁵Is it not known to you all that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom to David over Israel forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master.

⁷And there gathered to him worthless men, sons of Belial, and they strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender of heart and could not hold his own before them.

⁸Now you intend to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the golden calves that Jeroboam made as gods for you all.

⁹Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for you all like the peoples of the lands? Whoever comes to fill his hand with a young bull and seven rams becomes a priest to what is no god.

¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work.

¹¹They offer burnt offerings to the Lord morning by morning and evening by evening, and they burn fragrant incense; and the rows of bread are set on the pure table; and the golden lampstand with its lamps burn evening by evening, for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but you have forsaken him.

¹²And behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their war trumpets to sound the battle cry against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of the fathers of you all, for you will not succeed.

¹³But Jeroboam had sent an ambush to come around from behind them, so that they were in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴When Judah turned, behold, the battle was before them and behind them; and they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.

¹⁵And the men of Judah raised the battle cry. And when the men of Judah raised the battle cry, God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶The men of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand.

¹⁷And Abijah and his people struck them down with a great slaughter, and there fell slain from Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

¹⁸So the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.

¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

²⁰Jeroboam did not recover his strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord struck him down, and he died.

²¹But Abijah grew strong and took fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his words, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.