1 Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to
reign over Judah.
2 He
reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also 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 valour.
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 kingdom 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, is 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 be 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 you priests after 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, which 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 shewbread 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 ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before
Judah, and the ambushment 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 begat 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 story of the prophet Iddo.
