¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Micaiah, daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and between Jeroboam.

³Abijah began the battle with an army of mighty men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam drew up battle against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valor.

⁴Abijah stood up on the mountain of Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

⁵Is it not for you to know that Yahweh the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, the slave of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.

⁷And empty men gathered against him, sons of worthlessness, and grew strong against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was a youth and tender of heart and did not show himself strong before them.

⁸And now you are saying that you will show yourselves strong before the face of the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the sons of David, and you are a great crowd, and with you are calves of gold that Jeroboam made for you as God.

⁹Have you not driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and appointed priests for yourselves like the peoples of the lands? Anyone who comes to fill his hand with a bull, a son of the cattle, and seven rams, becomes a priest of what are no gods.

¹⁰But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests serving Yahweh are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at the work.

¹¹And they make smoke for Yahweh with burnt offerings morning by morning and evening by evening, and incense of spices, and the row of bread on the clean table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn evening by evening; for we keep the charge of Yahweh our God, but you have forsaken him.

¹²And look, God is with us at our head, and his priests, and the trumpets of the battle shout to raise a shout against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against Yahweh the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed."

¹³Jeroboam had caused the ambush to go around to come at them from behind, so that they were in front of Judah, with the ambush behind them.

¹⁴Judah turned, and look, the battle was in front of them and behind. They cried out to Yahweh, and the priests were sounding the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah raised a shout, and when the men of Judah raised the shout, God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before the face of Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶The sons of Israel fled from the face of Judah, and God gave them into their hand.

¹⁷And Abijah and his people struck them with a great blow, and five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁸So the sons of Israel were humbled at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they leaned on Yahweh the God of their fathers.

¹⁹Abijah ran after Jeroboam and captured cities from him: Beth-el and its daughters, Jeshanah and its daughters, and Ephrayin and its daughters.

²⁰Jeroboam did not retain his strength again in the days of Abijah; and Yahweh struck him, and he died.

²¹But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives for himself, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²And the rest of the words of Abijah, and his ways, and his words, are written in the study of the prophet Iddo.