11 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand select warriors, to fight against Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the Lord’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God: ³ Tell Judah’s King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ This is what the Lord says: Don’t make war against your relatives. Go home, every one of you, because this is my plan. When they heard the Lord’s words, they abandoned their attack against Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, but he built cities for Judah’s defense ⁶ in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the fortifications stronger, placed commanders in them, and supplied them with food, oil, and wine. ¹² He also stored shields and spears in each of the cities, making them very strong. This is how Judah and Benjamin remained under his control.

¹³ The priests and the Levites from every region throughout all Israel sided with Rehoboam. ¹⁴ The Levites left their pastures and property to come to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had refused to let them serve as the Lord’s priests, ¹⁵ having appointed his own priests for the shrines and the goat and calf idols he had made. ¹⁶ People from every tribe of Israel who had made up their minds to seek the Lord, Israel’s God, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁷ They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, for three years by following the way of David and Solomon those three years.

¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David’s son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse’s son. ¹⁹ The sons she bore him were Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ Later he married Maacah, Absalom’s daughter, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Absalom’s daughter Maacah more than all his wives and secondary wives. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty secondary wives, twenty-eight sons, and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam named Abijah, Maacah’s son, as his successor in order to make him king. ²³ He wisely placed some of his sons in every region of Judah and Benjamin, in every fortified city, and gave them plenty of food and sought many wives for them.