Historical

Rehoboam Builds Cities for Fortification

11 ^(A)Then Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who could wage war, to fight against Israel to return the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the word of Yahweh came to ^(B)Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴ ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You shall not go up and fight against ^(C)your brothers; return every man to his house, ^(D)for this thing is from Me.”’” So they listened to the words of Yahweh and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and ^(E)built cities for fortifications in Judah. ⁶ Thus he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and stores of food, oil and wine. ¹² And he put large shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³ Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him from all their territories.

Jeroboam Sets Up His Own Priests

¹⁴ For ^(F)the Levites left their pasture lands and their possession of land and went to Judah and Jerusalem, for ^(G)Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from ministering as priests to Yahweh— ^15 (H)And he set up priests of his own for the high places, for the goat demons and for the calves which he had made— ^16 (I)Now those from all the tribes of Israel who gave their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^[a]followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. ^17 (J)They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and gave courage to Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam took as a wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of ^(K)Eliab the son of Jesse, ¹⁹ and she bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ And after her he took ^(L)Maacah the daughter of ^[b]Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For ^(M)he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ^22 (N)And Rehoboam set up Abijah the son of Maacah to be head and ruler among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. ²³ And he acted with discernment and distributed ^[c]some of his sons through all the lands of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them sustenance in abundance. And he sought a multitude of wives for them.

Shishak of Egypt Comes Against Judah

12 ^(O)Now it happened that when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, ^(P)he and all Israel with him forsook the law of Yahweh. ^2 (Q)Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh, that ^(R)Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: ^(S)the Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. ⁴ And he captured ^(T)the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Now ^(U)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^(V)You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you ^[d]to Shishak.’” ⁶ So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “^(W)Yahweh is righteous.”

⁷ When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, “^(X)They have humbled themselves so I will not bring them to ruin, but I will grant them some measure of escape, and ^(Y)My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ But they will become his slaves so ^(Z)that they may know the difference between My slavery and the slavery of the kingdoms of the countries.”

Shishak Takes from Yahweh’s House

^9 (AA)So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house. He took everything; ^(AB)he even took the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰ Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the hand of the commanders of the ^[e]guard who kept the door of the king’s house. ¹¹ Now it happened that as often as the king entered the house of Yahweh, the ^[f]guards would come and carry them and then bring them back into the ^[g]guards’ room. ¹² And ^(AC)when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh turned away from him, so as not to ruin him completely; and also conditions ^(AD)were good in Judah.

^13 (AE)So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did evil ^(AF)because he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

^15 (AG)Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the ^[h]records of ^(AH)Shemaiah the prophet and of ^(AI)Iddo the seer, according to genealogical record? Now there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and ^(AJ)Abijah his son became king in his place.

Abijah Reigns over Judah

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

^(AL)Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ And Abijah began the battle with a military force of mighty men, 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam arranged them all for battle against him with 800,000 chosen men who were mighty men of valor.

God Smites Israel Before Judah

⁴ Then Abijah rose up on Mount ^(AM)Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel: ⁵ Do you not know that ^(AN)Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the rule over Israel forever to David ^[i]and his sons by ^(AO)a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet ^(AP)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ^[j]master, ⁷ and worthless men gathered about him, vile men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon; ^[k](AQ)he was young and timid and could not exert his strength before them.

⁸ “So now you ^[l]intend to exert your strength before the kingdom of Yahweh by the hand of the sons of David, ^[m]being a great multitude and having with you ^(AR)the golden calves which Jeroboam made for gods for you. ^9 (AS)Have you not driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^(AT)to ordain himself with a bull from the herd and seven rams, even he may become a priest of what are ^(AU)no gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to Yahweh as priests, and the Levites are in their work. ¹¹ And every morning and evening ^(AV)they ^[n]burn to Yahweh burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and ^(AW)the showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we keep the responsibility given by Yahweh our God, but you have forsaken Him. ¹² And behold, God is with us at our head and ^(AX)His priests with the signal trumpets to raise the shout of war against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³ But Jeroboam ^(AY)had encircled an ambush to come from the rear, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ So Judah turned around, and behold, ^[o]they were attacked both front and rear; so ^(AZ)they cried to Yahweh, and the priests blew the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah raised a shout of war, and when the men of Judah raised the shout of war, then it was that God ^(BA)smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ So the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and ^(BB)God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷ And Abijah and his people struck them down with a great slaughter, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ Thus the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah were strong ^(BC)because they leaned upon Yahweh, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its towns, Jeshanah with its towns, and ^[p]Ephron with its towns.

Death of Jeroboam

²⁰ Now Jeroboam did not again recover power in the days of Abijah; and ^(BD)Yahweh smote him and ^(BE)he died.

²¹ But Abijah became stronger; and he took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in ^(BF)the ^[q]treatise of ^(BG)the prophet Iddo.

Asa Reigns over Judah

14 ^[r](BH)So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was quiet for ten years during his days.

^2 [s]And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Yahweh his God, ³ for he removed ^(BI)the foreign altars and ^(BJ)high places, shattered the sacred pillars, cut the ^[t](BK)Asherim in pieces, ⁴ and said for Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. ⁵ He also ^[u]removed the high places and the ^(BL)incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was quiet before him. ^6 (BM)And he built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was quiet, and ^[v]there was no one at war with him during those years, ^(BN)because Yahweh had given him rest. ⁷ And he said to Judah, “^(BO)Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ^[w]ours because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded. ⁸ Now Asa had a military force of ^(BP)300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were mighty men of valor.

⁹ Then Zerah the Ethiopian ^(BQ)went out against them with a military force of one million men and 300 chariots, and he came to ^(BR)Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out ^[x]to meet him, and they arranged themselves for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa ^(BS)called to Yahweh his God and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between those of abundant power and those who have no power; so help us, O Yahweh our God, ^(BT)for we lean on You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, You are our God; let not mortal man prevail against You.” ¹² So ^(BU)Yahweh smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^(BV)Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that ^[y]they could not recover, for they were shattered before Yahweh and before His ^[z]army. And they carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴ And they struck down all the cities around Gerar, ^(BW)for the dread of Yahweh had fallen on them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also struck down ^[aa]those who owned livestock, and they carried away large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.