CHAPTER 13

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah was king over Judah. ²Three years he was king in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Michaiah daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³And Abijah joined battle with a force of four hundred thousand warriors, picked men, valiant warriors, and Jeroboam arrayed his troops for battle, eight hundred thousand picked men, valiant warriors. ⁴And Abijah arose on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel. ⁵Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel has given kingship over Israel forever to David and to his sons, in a covenant of salt? ⁶And Jeroboam son of Nebat, Solomon’s servant, arose and rebelled against his master. ⁷And there gathered round him empty worthless men, and they were hard against Rehoboam when Rehoboam was but a lad and soft-hearted and could not stand strong against them. ⁸And now you mean to prevail in strength over the LORD’s kingdom in the land of David’s sons when you are a great crowd and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made as gods. ⁹Have you not driven off the LORD’s priests, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made yourselves priests like the peoples of the lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a bull from the herd and seven rams becomes a priest to ungods. ¹⁰But we, the LORD our God we have not forsaken, and priests, sons of Aaron, minister to the LORD, and the Levites are at the task. ¹¹And they offer to the LORD burnt offerings every morning and every evening and aromatic incense and the bread in rows on a pure table and the golden lampstand and its lamps burning morning and evening, for we keep the watch of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken Him. ¹²And, look, at our head is God and His priests and the sounding trumpets to sound out against you. O men of Israel, do not battle with the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!” ¹³And Jeroboam had laid an ambush to come from behind them, and they were in front of Judah while the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴And Judah turned, and, look, the battle was in front of and behind them, and they cried out to the LORD with the priests blasting the trumpets. ¹⁵And the men of Judah shouted, and it happened when the men of Judah shouted that God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the men of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his troops struck them with a mighty blow, and the slain that fell of Israel were five hundred thousand picked men. ¹⁸And the men of Israel were brought low at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed for they relied on the LORD God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured towns from him—Bethel and its hamlets and Jeshanah and its hamlets and Ephrain and its hamlets. ²⁰And Jeroboam could not muster power again in the days of Abijah, and the LORD struck him and he died. ²¹And Abijah grew strong and took himself fourteen wives and begot twenty-two sons and twenty daughters. ²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah and his ways are written in the record of the prophet Iddo. ²³And Abijah lay with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. And Asa his son was king in his stead. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.