2 ChroniclesChapter 13

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¹Abijah became king of Judah in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's rule. ²He ruled in Jerusalem for three years. His mother's name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel. She was from Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam lined up against him with 800,000 chosen men. They were strong, brave warriors. ⁴Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim. He shouted, "Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵Don't you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the right to rule Israel to David and his descendants forever? He made a covenant of salt.a ⁶Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat rose up and rebelled against his master. He was a servant of Solomon son of David. ⁷Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him. They stood against Rehoboam son of Solomon. Rehoboam was young and had little experience. He was not strong enough to stand against them. ⁸And now you think you can stand against the kingdom of the LORD. That kingdom is in the hands of David's descendants. It's true that you have a huge army. And you have with you the gold calves Jeroboam made for you as gods. ⁹But didn't you drive out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? Didn't you make your own priests, as the peoples of other lands do? Now anyone can come with a young bull and seven rams to set himself apart. Then he can become a priest of things that are not gods. ¹⁰But as for us, the LORD is our God. We have not left him. The priests who serve the LORD are sons of Aaron. The Levites do their work. ¹¹Every morning and every evening they offer burnt offerings and sweet incense to the LORD. They set out the rows of showbread on the table that is clean for worship. Every evening they light the lamps on the gold lampstand. We are doing what the LORD our God requires. But you have left him. ¹²Look! God himself is with us as our leader. His priests are ready with their trumpets to sound the battle call against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers. You will not win." ¹³But Jeroboam had sent troops around behind Judah to ambush them. So Jeroboam's army was in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴The men of Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked from the front and the back. They cried out to the LORD. Then the priests blew the trumpets. ¹⁵The men of Judah raised the battle cry. And when they shouted, God beat Jeroboam and all Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶So the Israelites ran away from Judah, and God handed them over to Judah. ¹⁷Abijah and his army struck them down badly. Five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel were killed. ¹⁸So the Israelites were beaten at that time. The men of Judah won because they trusted in the LORD, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹Abijah chased Jeroboam and took some towns from him. He took Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, along with their villages. ²⁰Jeroboam never got his power back while Abijah lived. Then the LORD struck him, and he died. ²¹But Abijah grew strong. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²The rest of what Abijah did, along with his ways and his words, is written in the Writings of the Prophet Iddo.