Abijam Reigns over Judah

15 ^(A)Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. ² He reigned for three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ^[a](B)Maacah the daughter of ^[b](C)Abishalom. ³ He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and ^(D)his heart was not ^[c]wholly devoted to the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David. ⁴ But for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a ^(E)lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem, ^5 (F)because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and did not deviate from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, ^(G)except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. ^6 (H)And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

⁷ Now as for ^(I)the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^(J)And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

Asa Succeeds Abijam

^8 (K)And Abijam ^[d]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and his son Asa became king in his place.

⁹ So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. ¹⁰ He reigned for forty-one years in Jerusalem; and ^(L)his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹ Now ^(M)Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like his father David. ^12 (N)He also removed the male cult prostitutes from the land and ^(O)removed all the idols which his fathers had made. ¹³ And even his mother Maacah, ^(P)he also removed her from the position of queen mother, because she had made an abominable image ^[e]as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her abominable image and ^(Q)burned it at the brook Kidron. ^14 (R)But the high places ^[f]were not eliminated; nevertheless ^(S)Asa’s heart was ^[g]wholly devoted to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ And ^(T)he brought into the house of the Lord the ^[h]holy gifts of his father and his own ^[i]holy gifts: silver, gold, and valuable utensils.

^16 (U)Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ^17 (V)Baasha king of Israel marched against Judah and ^[j](W)fortified Ramah ^(X)in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸ Then ^(Y)Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king’s house, and handed it over to his servants. And ^(Z)King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in ^(AA)Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “Let’s make a ^(AB)treaty between ^[k]you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” ²⁰ So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and ^[l]conquered ^(AC)Ijon, ^(AD)Dan, ^(AE)Abel-beth-maacah, and all ^(AF)Chinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard about it, ^(AG)he stopped ^[m]fortifying Ramah and remained in ^(AH)Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had built fortifications. And King Asa built with them ^(AI)Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

Jehoshaphat Succeeds Asa

^23 (AJ)Now as for the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might, and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴ And Asa ^[n]lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son ^(AK)Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.

Nadab and Then Baasha Rule over Israel

²⁵ Now ^(AL)Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(AM)walked in the way of his father and ^(AN)in his sin into which he misled Israel. ²⁷ Then ^(AO)Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck and killed him at ^(AP)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

²⁸ So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place. ²⁹ And as soon as he was king, he struck and killed all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave Jeroboam any ^[o]persons alive, but kept killing until he had eliminated them, ^(AQ)in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ and because of the sins of Jeroboam which he ^[p]committed, and into ^(AR)which he misled Israel, because of his provocation with which he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.

^31 (AS)Now as for the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

War with Judah

^32 (AT)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

³³ In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned for twenty-four years. ³⁴ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(AU)walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin into which he misled Israel.

Abijah Succeeds Rehoboam

13 ^(A)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned in Jerusalem for three years; and his mother’s name was ^[a]Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

^(B)Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 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.

Civil War

⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount ^(C)Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel: ⁵ Do you not know that ^(D)the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David ^[b]and his sons by ^(E)a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet ^(F)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ^[c]master, ⁷ and worthless men gathered to him, wicked men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when ^[d](G)he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.

⁸ “So now you intend to assert yourselves against the kingdom of the Lord ^[e]through the sons of David, ^[f]being a great multitude and having with you ^(H)the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods. ^9 (I)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 ^(J)to consecrate himself with a bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of things that are ^(K)not gods. 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 ^[g]attend to their work. ¹¹ Every morning and evening ^(L)they ^[h]burn to the Lord burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and ^(M)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. ¹² Now behold, God is with us at our head, and ^(N)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 But Jeroboam ^(O)had set an ambush to come from behind, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ When Judah turned around, behold, ^[i]they were attacked both from front and rear; so ^(P)they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, God ^[j](Q)defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the sons of Israel fled from Judah, ^(R)God handed them over to them. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ The sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah ^[k]conquered ^(S)because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and ^[l]Ephron with its villages.

Death of Jeroboam

²⁰ Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the ^(T)Lord struck him and ^(U)he died.

²¹ But Abijah became powerful, and he took fourteen wives for himself, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in ^(V)the ^[m]treatise of ^(W)Iddo the prophet.

Asa Succeeds Abijah in Judah

14 ^[n](X)So Abijah ^[o]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.

^2 [p]And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord his God, ³ for he removed ^(Y)the foreign altars and ^(Z)high places, tore down the memorial stones, cut down the ^[q](AA)Asherim, ⁴ and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to ^[r]comply with the Law and the commandment. ⁵ He also removed the high places and the ^(AB)incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him. ^6 (AC)He built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and ^[s]there was no one at war with him during those years, ^(AD)because the Lord had given him rest. ⁷ For he said to Judah, “^(AE)Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ^[t]ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸ Now Asa had an army of ^(AF)three hundred thousand from Judah, carrying large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, carrying shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

⁹ Now Zerah the Ethiopian ^(AG)went out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to ^(AH)Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out ^[u]to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa ^(AI)called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; help us, Lord our God, ^(AJ)for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You.” ¹² So ^(AK)the Lord ^[v]routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^(AL)Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that ^[w]they could not recover, for they were shattered before the Lord and before His army. And they carried away a very large amount of plunder. ¹⁴ They ^[x]destroyed all the cities around Gerar, ^(AM)for the dread of the Lord had fallen on them; and they pillaged all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also fatally struck ^[y]those who owned livestock, and they led away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Godly Living

3 ^(A)Remind them ^(B)to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ^(C)ready for every good deed, ² to slander no one, ^(D)not to be contentious, to be ^(E)gentle, ^(F)showing every consideration for all people. ^3 (G)For we too were once foolish, ^(H)disobedient, ^(I)deceived, ^(J)enslaved to ^(K)various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in ^(L)malice and ^(M)envy, hateful, hating one another. ⁴ But when the ^(N)kindness of ^(O)God our Savior and His love for mankind ^(P)appeared, ^5 (Q)He saved us, ^(R)not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but ^(S)in accordance with His mercy, by the ^(T)washing of regeneration and ^(U)renewing by the Holy Spirit, ^6 (V)whom He ^(W)richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by His grace we would be made ^(X)heirs ^[a]according to the hope of eternal life. ^8 (Y)This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I ^(Z)want you to speak confidently, so that those who have ^(AA)believed God will be careful to ^(AB)engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people. ⁹ But ^(AC)avoid ^(AD)foolish controversies and ^(AE)genealogies and strife and ^(AF)disputes about the Law, for they are ^(AG)useless and worthless. ^10 (AH)Reject a ^[b](AI)divisive person ^(AJ)after a first and second warning, ¹¹ knowing that such a person has ^(AK)deviated from what is right and is sinning, being self-condemned.

Personal Concerns

¹² When I send Artemas or ^(AL)Tychicus to you, ^(AM)make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to ^(AN)spend the winter there. ¹³ Diligently help Zenas the ^(AO)lawyer and ^(AP)Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. ^14 (AQ)Our people must also learn to ^(AR)engage in good ^[c]deeds to meet ^(AS)pressing needs, so that they will not be ^(AT)unproductive.

^15 (AU)All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us ^(AV)in the faith.

^(AW)Grace be with you all.