2 Chronicles 13
The Reign of
Abijah |
1 Kgs. 15.1-8 |
1 |
Now in the eighteenth year of king
Jerobo'am began Abi'jah to reign over Judah.
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2 |
He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His
mother's name also was Michai'ah the daughter of U'ri-el of
Gib'e-ah.
And there was war between Abi'jah and
Jerobo'am.
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3 |
And Abi'jah set the battle in array with
an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand
chosen men: Jerobo'am also set the battle in array against him with
eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of
valor.
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4 |
And Abi'jah stood up upon mount
Zemara'im, which is in mount E'phra-im, and said, Hear me,
thou Jerobo'am, and all Israel;
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5 |
ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to
David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of
salt?
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6 |
Yet Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, the
servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled
against his lord.
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7 |
And there are gathered unto him vain men,
the children of Be'li-al, and have strengthened themselves against
Rehobo'am the son of Solomon, when Rehobo'am was young and
tender-hearted, and could not withstand them.
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8 |
And now ye think to withstand the
kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of
David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with
you golden calves, which Jerobo'am made you for gods.
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9 |
Have ye not cast out the priests of the
LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and
have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself
with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest
of them that are no gods.
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10 |
But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him;
and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:
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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 candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof,
to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.
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12 |
And, behold, God himself is with
us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to
cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against
the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not
prosper.
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13 |
But Jerobo'am caused an ambushment to
come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the
ambushment was behind them.
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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.
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15 |
Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and
as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote
Jerobo'am and all Israel before Abi'jah and Judah.
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16 |
And the children of Israel fled before
Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.
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17 |
And Abi'jah and his people slew them with
a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred
thousand chosen men.
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18 |
Thus the children of Israel were brought
under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because
they relied upon the LORD God of their
fathers.
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19 |
And Abi'jah pursued after Jerobo'am, and
took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jesha'nah
with the towns thereof, and E'phra-in with the towns
thereof.
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20 |
Neither did Jerobo'am recover strength
again in the days of Abi'jah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.
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21 |
But Abi'jah waxed mighty, and married
fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen
daughters.
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22 |
And the rest of the acts of Abi'jah, and
his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the
prophet Iddo.
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