2 Chronicles 13:1–22

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jer‧o‧bo′am it was that A‧bi′jah began to reign over Judah.²Three years he reigned in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Mi‧cai′ah the daughter of U‧ri′el of Gib′e‧ah. And war itself took place between A‧bi′jah and Jer‧o‧bo′am.

³So A‧bi′jah engaged in the war with a military force of four hundred thousand mighty men of war, chosen men. And Jer‧o‧bo′am himself drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, valiant, mighty men.⁴A‧bi′jah now rose up upon Mount Zem‧a‧ra′im, which is in the mountainous region of E′phra‧im, and said: “Hear me, O Jer‧o‧bo′am and all Israel.⁵Is it not for ​YOU​ to know that Jehovah the God of Israel himself gave a kingdom to David over Israel to time indefinite, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?⁶And Jer‧o‧bo′am the son of Ne′bat, the servant of Sol′o‧mon the son of David, proceeded to rise up and rebel against his lord.⁷And idle men, good‐for‐nothing fellows, kept collecting themselves together by him. Finally they proved superior to Re‧ho‧bo′am the son of Sol′o‧mon, when Re‧ho‧bo′am himself happened to be young and fainthearted, and he did not hold his own against them.

⁸“And now ​YOU​ men are thinking of holding ​YOUR​ own against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David, when ​YOU​ are a large crowd and there are with ​YOU​ the golden calves that Jer‧o‧bo′am made for ​YOU​ as gods.⁹Have ​YOU​ not driven out Jehovah’s priests, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and do ​YOU​ not keep making priests for yourselves like the peoples of the lands? As for anyone that came and filled his hand with power by means of a young bull and seven rams, he became a priest of what are no gods.¹⁰As for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not left him; but priests are ministering to Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and also the Levites in the work.¹¹And they are making burnt offerings smoke to Jehovah morning by morning and evening by evening and also perfumed incense; and the layers of bread are upon the table of pure [gold], and there are the golden lampstand and its lamps to light up evening by evening; because we are keeping the obligation to Jehovah our God, but ​YOU​ yourselves have left him.¹²And, look! with us there is at the head the [true] God with his priests and the signal trumpets for sounding the battle alarm against ​YOU. O sons of Israel, do not fight against Jehovah the God of ​YOUR​ forefathers, for ​YOU​ will not prove successful.”

¹³And Jer‧o‧bo′am, for his part, dispatched an ambush around to come behind them, so that they proved to be in front of Judah and the ambush behind them.¹⁴When those of Judah turned around, why, there they had the battle in front and behind. And they began to cry out to Jehovah, while the priests were loudly sounding the trumpets.¹⁵And the men of Judah broke out shouting a war cry. And it came about that, when the men of Judah shouted a war cry, then the [true] God himself defeated Jer‧o‧bo′am and all Israel before A‧bi′jah and Judah.¹⁶And the sons of Israel took to flight from before Judah, and then God gave them into their hand.¹⁷And A‧bi′jah and his people went striking them down with a vast slaughter; and the slain of Israel kept falling down, five hundred thousand chosen men.¹⁸Thus the sons of Israel were humbled at that time, but the sons of Judah proved superior because they leaned upon Jehovah the God of their forefathers.¹⁹And A‧bi′jah kept chasing after Jer‧o‧bo′am and got to capture cities from him, Beth′el and its dependent towns, and Jesh′a‧nah and its dependent towns, and E′phra‧in and its dependent towns.²⁰And Jer‧o‧bo′am did not retain any more power in the days of A‧bi′jah; but Jehovah dealt him a blow, so that he died.

²¹And A‧bi′jah continued to strengthen himself. In time he got fourteen wives for himself, and became father to twenty‐two sons and sixteen daughters.²²And the rest of A‧bi′jah’s affairs, even his ways and his words, are written in the exposition of the prophet Id′do.