The Daily Audio Bible

11 When Rechav‘am arrived in Yerushalayim, he assembled the house of Y’hudah and Binyamin, 180,000 select soldiers, to fight Isra’el and bring the rulership back to Rechav‘am. ² But this word of Adonai came to Sh’ma‘yah the man of God: ³ “Speak to Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo, king of Y’hudah, and to all Isra’el in Y’hudah and Binyamin; tell them ⁴ that this is what Adonai says: ‘You are not to go up and fight your brothers! Every man is to go back home, because this is my doing.’” They paid attention to the words of Adonai and turned back from attacking Yarov‘am.

⁵ Rechav‘am lived in Yerushalayim and built cities for defense in Y’hudah — ⁶ he built Beit-Lechem, ‘Eitam, T’koa, ⁷ Beit-Tzur, Sokho, ‘Adulam, ⁸ Gat, Mareshah, Zif, ⁹ Adorayim, Lakhish, ‘Azekah, ¹⁰ Tzor‘ah, Ayalon and Hevron; these are fortified cities in Y’hudah and Binyamin. ¹¹ He fortified the strongholds, appointed captains in charge of them and supplied them with food, olive oil and wine. ¹² In every city he put shields and spears, making them very strong. Y’hudah and Binyamin stuck with him.

¹³ The cohanim and L’vi’im from wherever they lived throughout all Isra’el made themselves available to Rechav‘am. ¹⁴ The L’vi’im left their pasture lands and property and came to Y’hudah and Yerushalayim; since Yarov‘am and his sons had thrown them out, not allowing them to function as cohanim for Adonai, ¹⁵ and had appointed for himself cohanim for the high places and for the images of goat-demons and calves that he had made. ¹⁶ Those from all the tribes of Isra’el who had set their hearts on seeking Adonai, the God of Isra’el, followed them to Yerushalayim to sacrifice to Adonai, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷ For three years they strengthened the kingdom of Y’hudah and made Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo strong, because for three years they followed the way of life of David and Shlomo.

¹⁸ Rechav‘am married Machalat the daughter of Yerimot the son of David and Avichayil the daughter of Eli’av the son of Yishai; ¹⁹ and she became the mother of his sons Ye‘ush, Sh’maryah and Zaham. ²⁰ After her, he married Ma‘akhah the daughter of Avshalom; she became the mother of Aviyah, ‘Atai, Ziza and Shlomit. ²¹ Rechav‘am loved Ma‘akhah more than all his other wives and concubines — for he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rechav‘am appointed Aviyah the son of Ma‘akhah chief, the leader of his brothers, because he intended to make him king. ²³ He was wise in his treatment of his sons, sending all of them throughout the territory of Y’hudah and Binyamin, to every fortified city, providing them with plenty of supplies and seeking for them many wives.

12 But in time, after Rechav‘am had consolidated his rulership and had become strong, he, and with him all Isra’el, abandoned the Torah of Adonai. ² In the fifth year of King Rechav‘am, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Yerushalayim, because they had acted faithlessly toward Adonai. ³ He came out of Egypt with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and a numberless army including Luvim, Suki’im and Ethiopians. ⁴ He captured the fortified cities of Y’hudah, then went to Yerushalayim.

⁵ Now Sh’ma‘yah the prophet came to Rechav‘am and the leaders of Y’hudah who had gathered in Yerushalayim because of Shishak and said to them, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Because you have abandoned me, I have abandoned you to the hands of Shishak.’” ⁶ In response, the leaders of Isra’el and the king humbled themselves; they said, “Adonai is right.” ⁷ When Adonai saw that they had humbled themselves, this word of Adonai came to Sh’ma‘yah: “Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will grant them a measure of deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Yerushalayim through Shishak. ⁸ However, they will become his slaves, so that they will come to appreciate the difference between serving me and serving earthly kingdoms.”

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt attacked Yerushalayim. He took the treasures in the house of Adonai and the treasures in the royal palace — he took everything, including the gold shields Shlomo had made. ¹⁰ To replace them, King Rechav‘am made shields of bronze, which he entrusted to the commanders of the contingent guarding the gate to the royal palace. ¹¹ Whenever the king went to the house of Adonai, the guard would come and get the shields; later they would return them to the guardroom.

¹² After he humbled himself, the anger of Adonai turned away from him, so that he did not altogether destroy him; moreover, some good things were found in Y’hudah. ¹³ So King Rechav‘am consolidated his rule in Yerushalayim.

Rechav‘am was forty-one years old when he began his reign; and he ruled seventeen years in Yerushalayim, the city Adonai had chosen from all the tribes of Isra’el to bear his name; his mother’s name was Na‘amah the ‘Amonit. ¹⁴ He did what was evil, because he had not set his heart on seeking Adonai. ¹⁵ The activities of Rechav‘am from beginning to end are written in the genealogically organized histories of Sh’ma‘yah the prophet and ‘Iddo the seer. But there were continual wars between Rechav‘am and Yarov‘am. ¹⁶ Rechav‘am slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Then Aviyah his son became king in his place.

13 It was in the eighteenth year of King Yarov‘am that Aviyah began his reign over Y’hudah. ² He ruled three years in Yerushalayim; his mother’s name was Mikhayahu the daughter of Uri’el from Giv‘ah.

There was war between Aviyah and Yarov‘am. ³ Aviyah joined the battle with an army of valiant soldiers, 400,000 select troops; while Yarov‘am took the field against him with 800,000 select troops who were valiant, strong men.

⁴ Aviyah, standing on Mount Z’marayim, in the hills of Efrayim, cried, “Yarov‘am and all Isra’el! Listen to me! ⁵ Don’t you know that Adonai, the God of Isra’el, gave rulership over Isra’el to David forever, to him and his descendants, by a covenant of salt [which is unbreakable]? ⁶ Yet Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, servant to Shlomo the son of David, rose in rebellion against his lord. ⁷ There rallied around him worthless brutes who were too strong for Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo to withstand when he was young and inexperienced. ⁸ Now you expect to withstand the kingdom of Adonai in the hands of the descendants of David. Yes, there are a great number of you, and you have with you the gold calves that Yarov‘am made as gods for you. ⁹ Yes, you drove out the cohanim of Adonai, the descendants of Aharon, and the L’vi’im; and you made yourselves priests as do the peoples in other countries, so that anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of those non-gods.

¹⁰ “But we are different. Adonai is our God, and we have not abandoned him. We have cohanim performing the service for Adonai, descendants of Aharon. With the L’vi’im doing their work, ¹¹ they burn to Adonai every morning and evening burnt offerings and sweet incense; they arrange the showbread on the pure table, and they prepare the gold menorah with its lamps to burn every evening. For we observe the order of Adonai our God. But you have abandoned him.

¹² “So look here! God is with us, leading us and his cohanim with the battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. People of Isra’el! Don’t fight against Adonai, the God of your ancestors; because you will not succeed.”

¹³ But Yarov‘am prepared to ambush them from behind, so that the main body was ahead of Y’hudah, while the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ Thus when Y’hudah looked back, the battle had to be fought in front of them and behind them.

They cried to Adonai, and the cohanim sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Y’hudah gave forth a shout, and as the men of Y’hudah shouted, God struck Yarov‘am and all Isra’el before Aviyah and Y’hudah. ¹⁶ The people of Isra’el fled before Y’hudah, and God handed them over to them. ¹⁷ Aviyah and his army inflicted a great slaughter on them — 500,000 of Isra’el’s select soldiers fell dead. ¹⁸ Thus the people of Isra’el were subdued that time, and the people of Y’hudah won the victory, because they relied on Adonai the God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ Aviyah pursued Yarov‘am, taking from him the towns of Beit-El with its villages, Y’shanah with its villages and ‘Efrayin with its villages. ²⁰ Yarov‘am did not recover his strength during the time of Aviyahu. Finally Adonai struck him, and he died. ²¹ But Aviyahu grew strong; he married fourteen wives and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²² Other activities of Aviyah, together with his ways of doing things and his sayings, are recorded in the commentary of the prophet ‘Iddo. ^23 (14:1) Aviyah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son became king in his place; during his time the land was quiet for ten years.

²⁶ Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God’s people accord with God’s will. ²⁸ Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; ²⁹ because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; ³⁰ and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!

³¹ What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too? ³³ So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous! ³⁴ Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf! ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? ³⁶ As the Tanakh puts it,

³⁷ No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, ³⁹ neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.