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2 Chronicles 13-14
New English Translation

Abijah’s Reign

13 In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother[a] was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.[b]

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Abijah launched the attack with 400,000 well-trained warriors,[c] while Jeroboam deployed against him 800,000 well-trained warriors.[d]

4 Abijah ascended Mount Zemaraim, in the Ephraimite hill country, and said: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! 5 Don’t you realize that the Lord God of Israel has given David and his dynasty lasting dominion over Israel by a formal covenant?[e] 6 Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master. 7 Lawless good-for-nothing men[f] gathered around him and conspired[g] against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was an inexperienced young man[h] and could not resist them. 8 Now you are declaring that you will resist the Lord’s rule through the Davidic dynasty.[i] You have a huge army,[j] and bring with you the gold calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. 9 But you banished[k] the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods![l] 10 But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests, and the Levites assist them with the work.[m] 11 They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly[n] we are observing the Lord our God’s regulations, but you have rejected him. 12 Now look, God is with us as our leader. His priests are ready to blow the trumpets to signal the attack against you.[o] You Israelites, don’t fight against the Lord God of your ancestors,[p] for you will not win!”

13 Now Jeroboam had sent some men to ambush the Judahite army from behind.[q] The main army was in front of the Judahite army;[r] the ambushers were behind it. 14 The men of Judah turned around and realized they were being attacked from the front and the rear.[s] So they cried out to the Lord for help. The priests blew their trumpets, 15 and the men of Judah gave the battle cry. As the men of Judah gave the battle cry, God struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The Israelites fled from before the Judahite army,[t] and God handed them over to the men of Judah.[u] 17 Abijah and his army thoroughly defeated them;[v] 500,000 well-trained Israelite men fell dead.[w] 18 That day[x] the Israelites were defeated; the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their ancestors.

19 Abijah chased Jeroboam; he seized from him these cities: Bethel and its surrounding towns, Jeshanah and its surrounding towns, and Ephron and its surrounding towns. 20 Jeroboam did not regain power during the reign of Abijah.[y] The Lord struck him down and he died. 21 Abijah’s power grew; he had[z] fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

22 The rest of the events of Abijah’s reign, including his deeds and sayings,[aa] are recorded in the writings of the prophet Iddo.

14 (13:23)[ab] Abijah passed away[ac] and was buried in the City of David.[ad] His son Asa replaced him as king. During his reign[ae] the land had rest for ten years.

Asa’s Religious and Military Accomplishments

2 (14:1) Asa did what the Lord his God desired and approved.[af] 3 He removed the pagan altars[ag] and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.[ah] 4 He ordered Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors[ai] and to observe his law and commands.[aj] 5 He removed the high places and the incense altars from all the towns of Judah. The kingdom had rest under his rule.[ak]

6 He built fortified cities throughout Judah, for the land was at rest and there was no war during those years; the Lord gave him peace. 7 He said to the people of Judah:[al] “Let’s build these cities and fortify them with walls, towers, and barred gates.[am] The land remains ours because we have followed[an] the Lord our God; we have followed him, and he has made us secure on all sides.”[ao] So they built the cities[ap] and prospered.

8 Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, equipped with large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried small shields and were adept archers; they were all skilled warriors. 9 Zerah the Cushite marched against them with an army of 1,000,000 men[aq] and 300 chariots . He arrived at Mareshah, 10 and Asa went out to oppose him. They deployed for battle in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

11 Asa prayed[ar] to the Lord his God: “O Lord, there is no one but you who can help the weak when they are vastly outnumbered.[as] Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you and have marched on your behalf against this huge army.[at] O Lord, you are our God; don’t let men prevail against you!”[au] 12 The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, 13 and Asa and his army chased them as far as Gerar. The Cushites were wiped out;[av] they were shattered before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah[aw] carried off a huge amount of plunder. 14 They defeated all the towns surrounding Gerar, for the Lord caused them to panic.[ax] The men of Judah[ay] looted all the towns, for they contained a huge amount of goods.[az] 15 They also attacked the tents of the herdsmen in charge of the livestock.[ba] They carried off many sheep and camels and then returned to Jerusalem.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 13:2 tnHeb “The name of his mother.”
  2. 2 Chronicles 13:2 tn The parallel text in 1 Kgs 15:2 identifies his mother as “Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom” (=Absalom, 2 Chr 11:20). Although most English versions identify the mother’s father as Uriel of Gibeah, a number of English versions substitute the name “Maacah” here for the mother (e.g., NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT).
  3. 2 Chronicles 13:3 tn Heb “and Abijah bound [i.e., began] the battle with a force of men of war, 400,000 chosen men.”
  4. 2 Chronicles 13:3 tn Heb “and Jeroboam arranged with him [for] battle with 800,000 chosen men, strong warrior[s].”
  5. 2 Chronicles 13:5 tn Heb “Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel has given kingship to David over Israel permanently, to him and to his sons [by] a covenant of salt?”sn For other references to a “covenant of salt,” see Lev 2:13 and Num 18:19.
  6. 2 Chronicles 13:7 tn Heb “empty men, sons of wickedness.”
  7. 2 Chronicles 13:7 tn Heb “strengthened themselves.”
  8. 2 Chronicles 13:7 tn Heb “a young man and tender of heart.”
  9. 2 Chronicles 13:8 tn Heb “the kingdom of the Lord by the hand of the sons of David.”
  10. 2 Chronicles 13:8 tn Or “horde”; or “multitude.”
  11. 2 Chronicles 13:9 tn In the Hebrew text this is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Did you not banish?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you did,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “But you banished.”
  12. 2 Chronicles 13:9 tn Heb “whoever comes to fill his hand with a bull, a son of cattle, and seven rams, and he is a priest to no-gods.”
  13. 2 Chronicles 13:10 tn Heb “and priests serving the Lord [are] the sons of Aaron and the Levites in the work.”
  14. 2 Chronicles 13:11 tn Or “for.”
  15. 2 Chronicles 13:12 tn Heb “and his priests and the trumpets of the war alarm [are ready] to sound out against you.”
  16. 2 Chronicles 13:12 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 18).
  17. 2 Chronicles 13:13 tn Heb “and Jeroboam had caused to circle around an ambush to come from behind them.”
  18. 2 Chronicles 13:13 tn Heb “Judah.”
  19. 2 Chronicles 13:14 tn Heb “and Judah turned, and, look, to them [was] the battle in front and behind.”
  20. 2 Chronicles 13:16 tn Heb “Judah.”
  21. 2 Chronicles 13:16 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  22. 2 Chronicles 13:17 tn Heb “struck them down with a great striking down.”
  23. 2 Chronicles 13:17 tn Heb “and [the] slain from Israel fell, 500,000 chosen men.”
  24. 2 Chronicles 13:18 tn Heb “at that time.”
  25. 2 Chronicles 13:20 tn Heb “and the strength of Jeroboam was not retained again in the days of Abijah.”
  26. 2 Chronicles 13:21 tn Heb “lifted up for himself.”
  27. 2 Chronicles 13:22 tn Heb “and his ways and his words.”
  28. 2 Chronicles 14:1 sn Beginning with 14:1, the verse numbers through 14:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 14:1 ET = 13:23 HT, 14:2 ET = 14:1 HT, 14:3 ET = 14:2 HT, etc., through 14:15 ET = 14:14 HT. Beginning with 15:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
  29. 2 Chronicles 14:1 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
  30. 2 Chronicles 14:1 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  31. 2 Chronicles 14:1 tn Heb “in his days.”
  32. 2 Chronicles 14:2 tn Heb “and Asa did the good and the right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”
  33. 2 Chronicles 14:3 tn Heb “the altars of the foreigner.”
  34. 2 Chronicles 14:3 sn Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [ʾasherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 7:5; 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
  35. 2 Chronicles 14:4 tn Heb “fathers.”
  36. 2 Chronicles 14:4 tn Heb “the law and the command.”
  37. 2 Chronicles 14:5 tn Heb “before him.”
  38. 2 Chronicles 14:7 tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy for the people of Judah.
  39. 2 Chronicles 14:7 tn Heb “and we will surround [them] with wall[s] and towers, doors, and bars.”
  40. 2 Chronicles 14:7 tn Heb “sought.”
  41. 2 Chronicles 14:7 tn Heb “we sought him, and he has given us rest all around.”
  42. 2 Chronicles 14:7 tn The words “the cities” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
  43. 2 Chronicles 14:9 tn Heb “a thousand thousands.”
  44. 2 Chronicles 14:11 tn Heb “called out.”
  45. 2 Chronicles 14:11 tn Heb “there is not except you to help between many with regard to [the one] without strength.”
  46. 2 Chronicles 14:11 tn Heb “and in your name we have come against this multitude.”
  47. 2 Chronicles 14:11 tn Heb “let not man retain [strength] with you.”
  48. 2 Chronicles 14:13 tn Heb “and there fell from the Cushites so that there was not to them preservation of life.”
  49. 2 Chronicles 14:13 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  50. 2 Chronicles 14:14 tn Heb “for the terror of the Lord was upon them.”
  51. 2 Chronicles 14:14 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  52. 2 Chronicles 14:14 tn Heb “for great plunder was in them.”
  53. 2 Chronicles 14:15 tn Heb “and also they struck down the tents of the livestock.”
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