2 Chronicles 13:4-22

2 Chronicles 13:4-22

[4] And Abijah  stood up  upon mount  Zemaraim,  which is in mount  Ephraim,  and said,  Hear  me, thou Jeroboam,  and all Israel;  [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?  [6] Yet Jeroboam  the son  of Nebat,  the servant  of Solomon  the son  of David,  is risen up,  and hath rebelled  against his lord.  [7] And there are gathered  unto him vain  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 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 Jeroboam  made  you for gods.  [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.  [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:  [11] And they burn  unto the LORD  every morning  and every evening  burnt sacrifices  and sweet  incense:  the shewbread  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  [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.  [13] But Jeroboam  caused an ambushment  to come  about  behind  them: so they were before  Judah,  and the ambushment  was behind  [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  smote  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  men.  [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.  [19] And Abijah  pursued  after  Jeroboam,  and took  cities  from him, Bethel  with the towns  thereof, and Jeshanah  with the towns  thereof, and Ephrain  with the towns  thereof. [20] Neither did Jeroboam  recover  strength  again in the days  of Abijah:  and the LORD  struck  him, and he died.  [21] But Abijah  waxed mighty,  and married  fourteen  wives,  and begat  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.