Now in the
eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to
reign over Judah.
02 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.
03 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.
04 And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which
is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou
Jeroboam, and all Israel;
05 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?
06 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of
Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath
rebelled against his lord.
07 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.
08 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 your
golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.
09 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:
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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 Ephraim
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.
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