II Chronicles 13 Abijah Reigns and Fights Against Jeroboam

 II Chronicles 13

Abijah Reigns and Fights Against Jeroboam

1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam Abijah reigned over Israel.

2 He reigned in Jerusalem three years; and his mother's name was Milcaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

3 And Abijah put in array for battle with an army of warlike men, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, all of them valiant men.

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

5 Should you not know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt? 

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

7 And base men, the sons of Belial, gathered themselves to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, while Rehoboam was still young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. 

8 And now you intend to fight against the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hand of the sons of David; indeed you are a great multitude, and you have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. 

9 Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves, as the people of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a bullock and seven rams immediately becomes a priest of those who are no gods. 

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

11 They burn burnt offerings to the Lord morning and evening, and sweet incense, and they set out the showbread on the pure table, and the golden lampstand and its lamps to be lit every evening, for we have kept the service of the Lord our God; but you have forsaken Him.

12 And behold, God is with us in front, and His priests blowing the trumpets to give an alarm against you, O children of Israel. Do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not prosper.

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

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

15 And the men of Judah shouted: and it came to pass, when the men of Judah shouted, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ​​

16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into his hand.

17 So Abijah and his people smote them greatly: for there fell slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

18 And the children of Israel were slain at that time: and the children of Judah prevailed, because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers.

19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took Bethel with its towns, and Ephron with its towns.

 20 Jeroboam did not regain any strength in the days of Abijah, but the Lord struck him, and he died. 

21 Abijah became strong and married fourteen wives, and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 

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