Abijah rules Judah

¹Abijah became king over Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam.[#13.1 Spelled Abijam in 1 Kgs 15:1, 7-8]

²He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah; she was Uriel’s daughter from Gibeah. When war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam,

³Abijah went to fight with an army of four hundred thousand select troops against Jeroboam’s select forces numbering eight hundred thousand, who were arrayed in battle formation.

⁴Abijah stood on the heights of Mount Zemaraim in Ephraim’s highlands and said:

¹³Meanwhile, Jeroboam had sent troops around behind them for an ambush so that the main force was in front of Judah while the ambush was behind.

¹⁴When Judah looked around and suddenly realized that they were surrounded, they cried out to the LORD while the priests sounded the trumpets

¹⁵and raised the battle cry. When they raised the battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God gave Judah the victory.

¹⁷Abijah and his people struck them severely: five hundred thousand select warriors were killed.

¹⁸Israel was subdued on that occasion, and Judah succeeded because they relied on the LORD , the God of their ancestors.

¹⁹Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities away from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, along with their villages.[#13.19 Qere, LXX; Kethib Ephrain]

²⁰Jeroboam failed to regain power during the time of Abijah. The LORD finally struck him down, and he died.

²¹Abijah, however, grew strong. He married fourteen wives; he had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²The rest of Abijah’s deeds, what he did and what he said, are written in the account of the prophet Iddo.