1In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.
2He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel, from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3Abijah joined the battle with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men, and Jeroboam drew up in battle against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty warriors.
4Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel!
5Should you not know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever—to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
6Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.
7Worthless men, sons of Belial, gathered around him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and faint of heart and did not hold firm against them.
8And now you intend to hold firm against the kingdom of Yahweh, which is in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.
9Have you not driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of the lands? Anyone who comes to fill his hand with a young bull and seven rams becomes a priest of what are not gods.
10But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests ministering to Yahweh are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work.
11They burn to Yahweh burnt offerings morning by morning and evening by evening, and fragrant incense; the row of bread is set on the pure table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is kept burning evening by evening. For we keep the charge of Yahweh our God, but you have forsaken him.
12And look, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound the alarm against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.
13But Jeroboam had brought the ambush around to come at them from behind, so that they were in front of Judah while the ambush was behind them.
14When Judah turned, the battle was there before them and behind. They cried out to Yahweh, and the priests were sounding the trumpets.
15Then the men of Judah raised the war cry, and it happened that as the men of Judah shouted, God struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16The sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand.
17Abijah and his people struck them with a great blow, and five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain.
18So the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed because they relied on Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
19Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured cities from him: Bethel with its daughter-villages, Jeshanah with its daughter-villages, and Ephron with its daughter-villages.
20Jeroboam did not regain his strength again in the days of Abijah, and Yahweh struck him down, and he died.
21But Abijah grew strong. He took fourteen wives for himself and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his words, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.
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