Abijah King of Judah
1Abijah became king of Judah. It was in the 18th year of Jeroboam’s rule over Israel. 2Abijah ruled in Jerusalem for three years. His mother’s name was Maakah. She was a daughter of Uriel. Uriel was from Gibeah.
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 capable fighting men. Jeroboam lined up his soldiers against them. He had 800,000 able troops.
4Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim. It’s in the hill country of Ephraim. Abijah said, “Jeroboam and all you Israelites, listen to me! 5The Lord is the God of Israel. Don’t you know that he has placed David and his sons after him on Israel’s throne forever? The Lord made a covenant of salt with David. The salt means the covenant will last for all time to come. 6Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was an official of David’s son Solomon. But he refused to obey his master. 7Some worthless and evil men gathered around him. They opposed Solomon’s son Rehoboam. At that time Rehoboam was young. He couldn’t make up his mind. He wasn’t strong enough to stand up against those men.
8“Now you plan to stand up against the kingdom of the Lord. His kingdom is in the hands of men in David’s family line. It’s true that you have a huge army. You have the statues of the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. 9But you drove out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron. You also drove out the Levites. You appointed your own priests. That’s what the people of other nations do. Anyone can come and set himself apart. All he has to do is sacrifice a young bull and seven rams. Then he becomes a priest of gods that aren’t really gods at all!
10“But the Lord is our God. We haven’t deserted him. The priests who serve the Lord belong to the family line of Aaron. The Levites help them. 11Every morning and evening the priests bring burnt offerings and sweet-smelling incense to the Lord. They set out the holy bread on the table. That table is ‘clean.’ They light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We always do what the Lord our God requires in his law. But you have deserted him. 12God is with us. He’s our leader. His priests will blow their trumpets. They will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, don’t fight against the Lord. He’s the God of your people who lived long ago. You can’t possibly succeed.”
13Jeroboam had sent some troops behind Judah’s battle lines. He told them to hide and wait there. He and his men stayed in front of Judah’s lines. 14Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked from the front and from the back. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets. 15The men of Judah shouted the battle cry. When they did, God drove Jeroboam and all the Israelites away from Abijah and Judah. 16The Israelites ran away from them. God handed Israel over to Judah. 17Abijah and his troops wounded and killed large numbers of them. In fact, 500,000 of Israel’s capable men lay dead or wounded. 18So at that time the Israelites were brought under Judah’s control. The people of Judah won the battle over them. That’s because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their people.
19Abijah chased Jeroboam. He captured from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron. He also captured the villages around them. 20Jeroboam didn’t get his power back during the time of Abijah. In fact, the Lord struck Jeroboam down, and he died.
21But Abijah grew stronger. He married 14 wives. He had 22 sons and 16 daughters.
22The other events of Abijah’s rule are written down. The things he did and said are written in the notes of Iddo the prophet.
亚比雅与耶罗波安争战
1耶罗波安王执政第十八年，亚比雅登基做犹大王， 2在耶路撒冷执政三年。他母亲叫米该亚13:2 “米该亚”在代下11:20是“押沙龙的女儿玛迦”。，是基比亚人乌列的女儿。亚比雅和耶罗波安之间常有争战。 3有一次，亚比雅率领四十万精兵出战，耶罗波安率领八十万精兵列阵迎战。
4亚比雅站在以法莲山区的西玛莲山上说：“耶罗波安和全体以色列人啊，你们听我说， 5你们不知道以色列的上帝耶和华曾经立下永世之约13:5 “永世之约”希伯来文是“盐约”。，要把以色列国永远赐给大卫和他的子孙吗？ 6尼八的儿子耶罗波安本是大卫的儿子所罗门的仆人，他却背叛他的主人， 7召集一群无赖恶棍，与所罗门的儿子罗波安作对。那时，罗波安年轻怯懦，无力抵抗。
8“现在你们仗着人多势众，又有耶罗波安制造的金牛犊作为你们的神明，便企图反抗大卫子孙所治理的耶和华的国度。 9你们赶走了做耶和华祭司的亚伦之后裔和利未人，效法外族人的恶俗为自己设立祭司。任何人牵来一头公牛犊和七只公绵羊，就可以自封为假神的祭司。
10“至于我们，耶和华是我们的上帝，我们没有背弃祂，我们有亚伦的后裔做祭司事奉耶和华，也有利未人各尽其职。 11他们每天早晚向耶和华献燔祭，烧芬芳的香，把供饼摆在洁净13:11 “洁净”指宗教礼仪上的洁净。的桌子上，每晚点上金灯台的灯。我们遵守我们上帝耶和华的吩咐，你们却背弃祂。 12上帝与我们同在，祂率领我们。祂的祭司就要吹响向你们进攻的号角。以色列人啊，不要与你们祖先的上帝耶和华作对，因为你们绝不会得胜。”
13耶罗波安却在犹大人后面设伏兵，企图前后夹攻他们。 14犹大人转身，发现自己前后受敌，就呼求耶和华。祭司吹响号角， 15犹大人便吶喊，上帝使耶罗波安和以色列人败在亚比雅和犹大人面前。 16以色列人从犹大人面前逃跑，上帝把他们交在犹大人手中。 17亚比雅和他的军队大败以色列人，歼灭了他们五十万精兵。 18这样，以色列人被击败，犹大人因为倚靠他们祖先的上帝耶和华而大获全胜。
19亚比雅追赶耶罗波安，攻取了伯特利、耶沙拿和以法拉音各城以及它们周围的村庄。 20亚比雅在世之日，耶罗波安再也没有恢复势力。后来，耶和华攻击他，他就死了。 21亚比雅却日渐强大，他有十四个妻妾、二十二个儿子、十六个女儿。 22亚比雅其余的事及其言行都记在易多先知的史记上。
