13:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.
13:2 He reigned in Jerusalem for three years; and his mother’s name was ①Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
▷ ①In 1 Kin 15:2, Maacah the daughter of Abishalom
13:3 Abijah began the battle with an army of warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men who were valiant warriors.
13:4 Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel:
13:5 Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David ①and his sons by a covenant of salt?
▷ ①Lit to him and to his sons
13:6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ①master,
▷ ①Or lord
13:7 and worthless men gathered to him, wicked men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when ①he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.
▷ ①Lit Rehoboam
13:8 “So now you intend to assert yourselves against the kingdom of the LORD ①through the sons of David, ②being a great multitude and having with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods.
▷ ①Lit by the hand of ②Lit and you are a
13:9 Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of things that are not gods.
13:10 But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not abandoned Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the LORD as priests, and the Levites ①attend to their work.
▷ ①Lit in the work
13:11 Every morning and evening they ①burn to the LORD burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and the showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we perform our duty to the LORD our God, but you have abandoned Him.
▷ ①Lit offer up in smoke
13:12 Now behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the war cry against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”
13:13 But Jeroboam had set an ambush to come from behind, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.
13:14 When Judah turned around, behold, ①they were attacked both from front and rear; so they cried out to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets.
▷ ①Lit the battle was in front and behind them
13:15 Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, God ①defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
▷ ①Lit struck
13:16 When the sons of Israel fled from Judah, God handed them over to them.
13:17 Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain.
13:18 The sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah ①conquered because they trusted in the LORD, the God of their fathers.
▷ ①Lit were strong
13:19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and ①Ephron with its villages.
▷ ①Another reading is Ephrain
13:20 Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him and he died.
13:21 But Abijah became powerful, and he took fourteen wives for himself, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
13:22 Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in the ①treatise of Iddo the prophet.
▷ ①Heb midrash