2 Chronicles 13

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.

⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵Should you not know that the Lord

⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.

⁷Then worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them.

⁸And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord

⁹Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord

¹⁰But as for us, the Lord

¹¹And they burn to the Lord

¹²Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the Lord

¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord

¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephrain with its villages.

²⁰So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord

²¹But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet Iddo.