1When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
2But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying,
3“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,
4‘Thus says Yahweh: You shall not go up and you shall not fight against your brothers. Return, each man to his house, for this thing has come about from me.’” So they heeded the words of Yahweh and turned back from going against Jeroboam.
5Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah.
6He built Bethlehem, Etam, and Tekoa,
7Beth-zur, Soco, and Adullam,
8Gath, Mareshah, and Ziph,
9Adoraim, Lachish, and Azekah,
10Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin — fortified cities.
11He strengthened the fortresses and put commanders in them, along with stores of food, oil, and wine.
12And in every single city he put shields and spears, and he made them exceedingly strong. So Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
13The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him from all their territory.
14For the Levites left their pasturelands and their holdings and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons rejected them from serving as priests to Yahweh.
15And he appointed for himself priests for the high places, for the goat-demons, and for the calves that he had made.
16And after them, from all the tribes of Israel, those who set their heart to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
17So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam son of Solomon secure for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.
18Rehoboam took as a wife Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth son of David, and of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.
19She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20And after her he took Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines — for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as head, as leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.
23He acted wisely and dispersed some of all his sons throughout all the regions of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them provisions in abundance and sought for them a multitude of wives.
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