Abijah King of Judah
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 Micaiah 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 valor.
4   And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of  Ephraim, and said, Hear me, you Jeroboam, and all Israel;
5   Ought 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?
6   Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, has risen up, and has rebelled against his lord.
7   And 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.
8   And 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.
9   Have 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.
10   But 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:
11   And  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.
12   And, 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.
13   But Jeroboam sent an ambush to come around behind them: so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush 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 defeated 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 subdued 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 its villages, and Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephron with its villages.
20   Neither  did  Jeroboam  recover  strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.
21   But Abijah grew mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begot 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.