2 Chronicles 13
1Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.
2He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3And 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 valor.
4And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, you Jeroboam, and all Israel;
5Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
6Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, has risen up, and has rebelled against his lord.
7And there are gathered unto him worthless 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.
8And now do you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.
9Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made yourselves priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.
10But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, who minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their service:
11And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the lampstand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but you have forsaken him.
12And, behold, God himself is with us as our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight not against the LORD God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper.
13But Jeroboam sent an ambush to come around behind them: so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.
14And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.
15Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.
17And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
18Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.
19And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with its villages, and Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephron with its villages.
20Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.
21But Abijah grew mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begot twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.
22And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
Commentaries for 2 Chronicles 13:0