2 Chronicles 11-14

Contemporary English Version

Shemaiah the Prophet Warns Rehoboam

(1 Kings 12.21-24)

11 After Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he decided to attack Israel and regain control of the whole country. So he called together 180,000 soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

² Meanwhile, the Lord had told Shemaiah the prophet ³ to tell Rehoboam and everyone from Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ “The Lord warns you not to go to war against the people from the northern tribes—they are your relatives. Go home! The Lord is the one who made these things happen.”

Rehoboam and his army obeyed the Lord's message and did not attack Jeroboam and his troops.

Rehoboam Fortifies Cities in Judah

⁵ Rehoboam ruled from Jerusalem, and he had several cities in Judah turned into fortresses so he could use them to defend his country. These cities included ⁶ Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-Zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. After he had fortified these cities in the territories of Judah and Benjamin, ¹¹ he assigned an army commander to each of them and stocked them with supplies of food, olive oil, and wine, ¹² as well as with shields and spears. He used these fortified cities to keep control of Judah and Benjamin.

The Priests and the Levites Support Rehoboam

¹³ The priests and Levites from the northern tribes of Israel gave their support to King Rehoboam. ¹⁴ And since Jeroboam and the kings of Israel that followed him would not allow any Levites to serve as priests, most Levites left their towns and pasturelands in Israel and moved to Jerusalem and other towns in Judah. ^15 (A) Jeroboam chose his own priests to serve at the local shrines^[a] in Israel and at the places of worship where he had set up statues of goat-demons and of calves.

¹⁶ But some of the people from Israel wanted to worship the Lord God, just as their ancestors had done. So they followed the priests and Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁷ For the next three years, they lived in Judah and were loyal to Rehoboam and his kingdom, just as they had been loyal to David and Solomon.

Rehoboam's Family

¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath, whose father was Jerimoth son of David, and whose mother was Abihail the daughter of Eliab and granddaughter of Jesse. ¹⁹ Rehoboam and Mahalath had three sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ Then Rehoboam married Maacah the daughter of Absalom. Their sons were Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹ Rehoboam had 18 wives, but he also married 60 other women,^[b] and he was the father of 28 sons and 60 daughters. Rehoboam loved his wife Maacah the most, ²² so he chose their oldest son Abijah to be the next king. ²³ Rehoboam was wise enough to put one of his sons in charge of each fortified city in his kingdom. He gave them all the supplies they needed and found wives for every one of them.

King Shishak of Egypt Invades Judah

(1 Kings 14.25-28)

12 Soon after Rehoboam had control of his kingdom, he and everyone in Judah stopped obeying the Lord. ² So in the fifth year of Rehoboam's rule, the Lord punished them for their unfaithfulness and allowed King Shishak of Egypt to invade Judah. ³ Shishak attacked with his army of 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry troops, as well as countless Egyptian soldiers from Libya, Sukkoth, and Ethiopia.^{[c] 4} He captured every one of the fortified cities in Judah and then marched to Jerusalem.

⁵ Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah had gone to Jerusalem to escape Shishak's invasion. And while they were there, Shemaiah the prophet told them, “The Lord says that because you have disobeyed him, he has now abandoned you. The Lord will not help you against Shishak!”

⁶ Rehoboam and the leaders were sorry for what they had done and admitted, “The Lord is right. We have deserted him.”

⁷ When the Lord heard this, he told Shemaiah:

The people of Judah are truly sorry for their sins, and so I won't let Shishak completely destroy them. But because I am still angry, ⁸ he will conquer and rule them.

Then my people will know what it's like to serve a foreign king instead of serving me.

^9 (B) Shishak attacked Jerusalem and took all the valuable things from the temple and from the palace, including Solomon's gold shields.

¹⁰ Rehoboam had bronze shields made to replace the gold ones, and he ordered the guards at the city gates to keep them safe. ¹¹ Whenever Rehoboam went to the Lord's temple, the guards carried the shields. But they always took them back to the guardroom as soon as he had finished worshiping.

¹² Rehoboam turned back to the Lord, and so the Lord did not let Judah be completely destroyed, and Judah was prosperous again.

Rehoboam's Rule in Judah

(1 Kings 14.21,29-31)

¹³ Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he ruled 17 years from Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen to be worshiped. His mother Naamah was from Ammon. Rehoboam was a powerful king, ¹⁴ but he still did wrong and refused to obey the Lord.

¹⁵ Everything else Rehoboam did while he was king, including a history of his family, is written in the records of the two prophets, Shemaiah and Iddo. During Rehoboam's rule, he and King Jeroboam of Israel were constantly at war. ¹⁶ When Rehoboam died, he was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Abijah became king.

King Abijah of Judah

(1 Kings 15.1-8)

13 Abijah^[d] became king of Judah in Jeroboam's eighteenth year as king of Israel, ² and he ruled from Jerusalem for three years. His mother was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.

Some time later, Abijah and King Jeroboam of Israel went to war against each other. ³ Abijah's army had 400,000 troops, and Jeroboam met him in battle with 800,000 troops.

⁴ Abijah went to the top of Mount Zemaraim^[e] in the hills of Ephraim and shouted:

Listen, Jeroboam and all you Israelites! ⁵ The Lord God of Israel has made a solemn promise that every king of Israel will be from David's family. ⁶ But Jeroboam, you were King Solomon's official, and you rebelled. ⁷ Then right after Rehoboam became king, you and your bunch of worthless followers challenged Rehoboam, who was too young to know how to stop you.

⁸ Now you and your powerful army think you can stand up to the kingdom that the Lord has given to David's descendants. The only gods you have are those gold statues of calves that Jeroboam made for you. ⁹ You don't even have descendants of Aaron on your side, because you forced out the Lord's priests and Levites. In their place, you appoint ordinary people to be priests, just as the foreign nations do. In fact, anyone who brings a bull and seven rams to the altar can become a priest of your so-called gods.

¹⁰ But we have not turned our backs on the Lord God! Aaron's own descendants serve as our priests, and the Levites are their assistants. ¹¹ Two times every day they offer sacrifices and burn incense to the Lord. They set out the sacred loaves of bread on a table that has been purified, and they light the lamps in the gold lampstand every day at sunset. We follow the commands of the Lord our God—you have rejected him! ¹² That's why God is on our side and will lead us into battle when the priests sound the signal on the trumpets. It's no use, Israelites. You might as well give up. There's no way you can defeat the Lord, the God your ancestors worshiped.

¹³ But while Abijah was talking, Jeroboam had sent some of his troops to attack Judah's army from behind, while the rest attacked from the front. ¹⁴ Judah's army realized they were trapped, and so they prayed to the Lord. The priests blew the signal on the trumpet, ¹⁵ and the troops let out a battle cry. Then with Abijah leading them into battle, God defeated Jeroboam and Israel's army. ¹⁶ The Israelites ran away, and God helped Judah's soldiers slaughter ¹⁷ 500,000 enemy troops. ¹⁸ Judah's army won because they had trusted the Lord God of their ancestors.

¹⁹ Abijah kept up his attack on Jeroboam's army and captured the Israelite towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, as well as the villages around them.

²⁰ Jeroboam never regained his power during the rest of Abijah's rule. The Lord punished Jeroboam, and he died, but Abijah became more powerful.

²¹ Abijah had a total of 14 wives, 22 sons, and 16 daughters. ²² Everything Abijah said and did while he was king is written in the records of Iddo the prophet.

King Asa of Judah

14 Abijah died and was buried in Jerusalem. Then his son Asa became king, and Judah had ten years of peace.

² Asa obeyed the Lord his God and did right. ³ He destroyed the local shrines^[f] and the altars to foreign gods. He smashed the stone images of gods and cut down the sacred poles^[g] used in worshiping the goddess Asherah. ⁴ Then he told everyone in Judah to worship the Lord God, just as their ancestors had done, and to obey his laws and teachings. ⁵ He destroyed every local shrine and incense altar in Judah.

⁶ The Lord blessed Judah with peace while Asa was king, and so during that time, Asa fortified many of the towns. ⁷ He said to the people, “Let's build walls and defense towers for these towns, and put in gates that can be locked with bars. This land still belongs to us, because we have obeyed the Lord our God. He has given us peace from all our enemies.” The people did everything Asa had suggested.

⁸ Asa had a large army of brave soldiers: 300,000 of them were from the tribe of Judah and were armed with shields and spears; 280,000 were from Benjamin and were armed with shields and bows.

Judah Defeats Ethiopia's Army

⁹ Zerah from Ethiopia^[h] led an army of 1,000,000 soldiers and 300 chariots to the town of Mareshah^[i] in Judah. ¹⁰ Asa met him there, and the two armies prepared for battle in Zephathah Valley.

¹¹ Asa prayed:

Lord God, only you can help a powerless army defeat a stronger one. So we depend on you to help us. We will fight against this powerful army to honor your name, and we know that you won't be defeated. You are the Lord our God.

¹² The Lord helped Asa and his army defeat the Ethiopians. The enemy soldiers ran away, ¹³ but Asa and his troops chased them as far as Gerar. It was a total defeat—the Ethiopians could not even fight back!^[j]

The soldiers from Judah took everything that had belonged to the Ethiopians. ¹⁴ The people who lived in the villages around Gerar learned what had happened and were afraid of the Lord. So Judah's army easily defeated them and carried off everything of value that they wanted from these towns. ¹⁵ They also attacked the camps where the shepherds lived and took a lot of sheep, goats, and camels. Then they went back to Jerusalem.