Abijah King of Judah^(A)

13 Abijah became the king of Judah during the eighteenth year Jeroboam was king of Israel. ² Abijah ·ruled [reigned] in Jerusalem for three years. His mother was Maacah daughter of Uriel from the town of Gibeah.

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah led an army of four hundred thousand ·capable [skilled; valiant] soldiers into battle, and Jeroboam prepared to fight him with eight hundred thousand ·capable [skilled; valiant] soldiers.

⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the mountains of Ephraim and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me! ⁵ ·You should know [^LDo you not know/realize…?] that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave David and his sons the right to ·rule [reign over] Israel forever by an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] of salt [Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19]. ⁶ But Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of the ·officers [officials] of Solomon, David’s son, ·turned [rebelled] against his master. ⁷ Then ·worthless [^Lempty], ·evil men [scoundrels] joined Jeroboam against Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. He was young and ·didn’t know what to do [inexperienced; indecisive], so he could not ·stop [resist; stand up to] them.

⁸ “Now you ·people are making plans against [propose to resist/stand against] the Lord’s kingdom, which belongs to David’s sons. ·There are many of you [You are a vast army], and you have the gold calves Jeroboam made for you as gods. ⁹ ·You have [Have you not…?] thrown out the Levites and the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s sons. You have ·chosen [appointed] your own priests [^Crather than God appointing them] as people in other ·countries [lands; nations] do. Anyone who comes with a young bull and seven ·male sheep [rams] can become a priest of idols that are not gods [^Cthat is, they buy or bribe their way into the priesthood].

¹⁰ “But as for us, the Lord is our God; we have not ·left [abandoned; forsaken] him. The priests who serve the Lord are Aaron’s ·sons [descendants], and the Levites ·help [assist; attend] them. ¹¹ They ·offered [sacrificed] burnt offerings and ·sweet-smelling [fragrant] incense to the Lord every morning and evening. They put the ·bread [^Tshowbread] on the ·special [holy; ritually clean] table [^Cin the Temple]. And they light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We obey the command of the Lord our God, but you have ·left [abandoned; forsaken] him. ¹² God himself is with us as our ·ruler [head]. His priests blow the trumpet to ·call us to war [sound the alarm] against you. Men of Israel, don’t fight against the Lord, the God of your ·ancestors [fathers], because you won’t succeed.”

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent some troops to ·sneak behind Judah’s army [ambush from behind]. So while Jeroboam was ·in front of [confronting] Judah’s army, ·Jeroboam’s soldiers [the ambushers] were behind them. ¹⁴ When the soldiers of Judah turned around, they saw Jeroboam’s army attacking both in front and back. So they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah ·gave [shouted out] a battle cry. When they shouted, God ·caused Jeroboam and the army of Israel to run away from [routed/defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before] Abijah and the army of Judah. ¹⁶ When the army of Israel ·ran away from the men of [fled before] Judah, God handed them over to Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah’s army ·struck [inflicted a great slaughter on] Israel so that five hundred thousand of Israel’s ·best [select] men were killed. ¹⁸ So at that time the people of Israel were ·defeated [subdued]. And the people of Judah ·won [conquered; prevailed], because they ·depended on [trusted] the Lord, the God of their ·ancestors [fathers].

¹⁹ Abijah’s army chased Jeroboam’s army and captured from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, and the small villages near them. ²⁰ Jeroboam never ·became strong [regained his power] again while Abijah was alive. The Lord struck Jeroboam, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah ·became strong [grew more powerful]. He married fourteen women and was the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² ·Everything else Abijah did [The rest of the events/acts/history of Abijah]—what he said and what he did—is recorded in the ·writings [commentary; treatise] of the prophet Iddo.