13 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.

² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. Also his mother’s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³ And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men. Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valor.

⁴ And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in Mount Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, thou Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵ Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

⁶ Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, hath risen up and hath rebelled against his lord.

⁷ And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them.

⁸ “And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.

⁹ Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made priests for yourselves in the manner of the nations of other lands, so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods?

¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests, who minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business.

¹¹ And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense. The showbread also set they in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the Lord our God. But ye have forsaken Him.

¹² And behold, God Himself is with us for our captain, and His priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.”

¹³ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; so they were before Judah and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴ And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind; and they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

¹⁵ Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶ And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷ And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

¹⁸ Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.

¹⁹ And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof.

²⁰ Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord struck him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begot twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² And the rest of the acts of Abijah and his ways and his sayings are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

14 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.

² And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.

³ For he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down the Asherah poles;

⁴ and he commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

⁵ Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.

⁶ And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; and he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.

⁷ Therefore he said unto Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls about them, and towers, gates, and bars while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought Him, and He hath given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸ And Asa had an army of men who bore bucklers and spears out of Judah, three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand. All these were mighty men of valor.

⁹ And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came unto Mareshah.

¹⁰ Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

¹¹ And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said, “Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many or with those who have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God. Let not man prevail against Thee.”

¹² So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

¹³ And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them unto Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown so that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord and before His host; and they carried away very much spoil.

¹⁴ And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them; and they despoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them.

¹⁵ They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

12 Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, who had been dead and whom He had raised from the dead.

² There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.

³ Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

⁴ Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son who was to betray Him, said,

⁵ “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?”

⁶ This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money bag and took what was put therein.

⁷ Then Jesus said, “Let her alone; against the day of My burying hath she kept this.

⁸ For the poor always ye have with you, but Me ye have not always.”

⁹ Many people of the Jews therefore knew that He was there. And they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead.

¹⁰ But the chief priests consulted, that they might put Lazarus also to death,

¹¹ because by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

¹² On the next day many people who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³ took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet Him and cried, “Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!”

¹⁴ And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.”

¹⁶ These things His disciples understood not at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things unto Him.

¹⁷ The people therefore who were with Him, when He called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead, bore record.

¹⁸ For this cause the people also met Him, for they heard that He had done this miracle.

¹⁹ The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “Perceive ye how ye prevail not at all? Behold, the world has gone after him!”

²⁰ And there were certain Greeks among them, who came up to worship at the feast.

²¹ They came therefore to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”

²² Philip went and told Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

²³ And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

²⁴ Verily, verily I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

²⁵ He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

²⁶ If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be. If any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.