2 Chronicles 13

International Standard Version

Abijah Succeeds Rehoboam^(A)

13 During the eighteenth year of the reign of^[a] King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Uriel’s daughter Micaiah from Gibeah.

A war started between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah started the battle with an army of 400,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers, but Jeroboam opposed him with 800,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers. ⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and announced:

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent an ambush to attack from the rear, so Israel was in front of Judah, with the ambush set in place behind them. ¹⁴ When the army of^[e] Judah turned around to look, they were being attacked from both front and rear, so they cried out to the Lord while the priests sounded their trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the army of Judah sounded a war cry, and God routed Jeroboam and the entire army of Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah and his army defeated them in a tremendous slaughter that resulted in 500,000 special forces from Israel being slain. ¹⁸ And so the descendants of Israel were defeated at that time. The descendants of Judah were victorious because they trusted in the Lord God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ After this Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

Jeroboam’s Death and Asa’s Reign in Judah

²⁰ Jeroboam never recovered his strength for the rest of Abijah’s life. The Lord struck Jeroboam,^[f] and he died, ²¹ but Abijah continued to grow more powerful. He took fourteen wives for himself and fathered 22 sons and sixteen daughters. ²² The rest of Abijah’s accomplishments, his lifestyle and his memoirs are recorded in the Midrash^[g] of the Prophet Iddo.