2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 13 ©

1 Abijah maketh war against Jeroboam: 4 he declareth the right of his cause: 13 trusting in God he overcometh Jeroboam. 21 The wives and children of Abijah.

1

NOW in athe eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

2

He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was 1Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of bGibeah. And cthere was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

3

And Abijah set the battle 2in array with an army of valiant men of war, even dfour 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 eZemaraim, which is in fmount Ephraim, and said, gHear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

5

Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel hgave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by ia covenant of salt?

6

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

7

And there are gathered unto him kvain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was lyoung and tenderhearted, and mcould not withstand them.

8

And now ye think to withstand nthe kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be oa great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

9

Have pye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have qmade you priests after the *manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh 3to 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, rthe LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are sthe sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:

11

And tthey burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the ushewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and vthe candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, wto burn every evening: for we xkeep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.

12

And, behold, God himself is with us yfor our captain, and his priests with zsounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, afight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

13

¶But Jeroboam caused ban 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 ccried 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 dsmote 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 efive hundred thousand chosen men.

18

Thus the children of Israel were 4brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they frelied upon the LORD God of their fathers.

19

And Abijah gpursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, hBeth-el 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 istruck him, and he died.

21

¶But Abijah waxed mighty, and married jfourteen 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 5story of the prophet kIddo.