2 Chronicles 13
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.
