Abijah rules Judah

13 Abijah^[a] became king over Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah; she was Uriel’s daughter from Gibeah. When war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam, ³ Abijah went to fight with an army of four hundred thousand select troops against Jeroboam’s select forces numbering eight hundred thousand, who were arrayed in battle formation.

⁴ Abijah stood on the heights of Mount Zemaraim in Ephraim’s highlands and said:

¹³ Meanwhile, Jeroboam had sent troops around behind them for an ambush so that the main force was in front of Judah while the ambush was behind. ¹⁴ When Judah looked around and suddenly realized that they were surrounded, they cried out to the Lord while the priests sounded the trumpets ¹⁵ and raised the battle cry. When they raised the battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God gave Judah the victory. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people struck them severely: five hundred thousand select warriors were killed. ¹⁸ Israel was subdued on that occasion, and Judah succeeded because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities away from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron,^[c] along with their villages. ²⁰ Jeroboam failed to regain power during the time of Abijah. The Lord finally struck him down, and he died. ²¹ Abijah, however, grew strong. He married fourteen wives; he had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² The rest of Abijah’s deeds, what he did and what he said, are written in the account of the prophet Iddo.