¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah started to reign over Judah. ²He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³And Abijah gave battle with a force of warriors, of four hundred thousand elite men, while Jeroboam drew up battle lines against him with eight hundred thousand elite men – valiant warriors. ⁴And Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is at Mount Ephraim, and he said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel. ⁵Is it not given to you to know that the Lord God of Israel gave a kingdom to David, over Israel age-abidingly, to him and his sons, in a covenant of salt? ⁶But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master. ⁷And idle men joined him – good-for-nothing lads – and they emboldened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was a tender-hearted youth and could not gather strength to confront them. ⁸But now you say that you will gather strength to confront the Lord's kingdom, which is under the authority of the sons of David, and that you are a great multitude, and that with you are golden calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods. ⁹Have you not thrust out the Lord's priests – the sons of Aaron and the Levites – and created for yourselves priests like the nations of the various countries? Everyone who comes to commission himself with a bull-calf and seven rams becomes a priest of non-gods. ¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him, and the priests who serve the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are engaged in the work, ¹¹and they make burnt offerings to the Lord with incense every morning and every evening, and incense from fragrances, and see to the arrangement of the showbread on the pure table, and the golden lampstand and its candles so that they burn every evening. For we keep the duty of observance of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him. ¹²And look, with us at the head is God, and his priests and the trumpets, the sounding of them being to raise an alarm to you. You sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.” ¹³But Jeroboam wheeled an ambush round so as to get behind them, so that they – Jeroboam's men – were facing Judah, whereas his ambush was behind them. ¹⁴Then when Judah turned round, they became aware that they faced battle in front and behind, and they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. ¹⁵And the men of Judah raised the alarm, and it came to pass, when the men of Judah raised the alarm, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel in the presence of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people dealt them a severe blow, and five hundred thousand elite men of Israel fell as casualties. ¹⁸So the sons of Israel were brought low at that time, whereas the sons of Judah displayed strength, because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam, and he captured cities from him – Beth-El and its satellite villages, and Jeshanah and its satellite villages, and Ephron and its satellite villages. ²⁰And Jeroboam did not regain strength in the days of Abijah, and the Lord struck him down, and he died. ²¹But Abijah became stronger, and he took fourteen wives, and he begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²²And the rest of the affairs of Abijah, both his ways and his affairs, are written in the Commentary of the Prophet Iddo.