^K1/C1Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat began Abijam [or] Abijah to reign over Judah. ^K2/C2aThree years reigned he in Jerusalem. and his mother’s name was Maachah [or] Michaiah, the daughter of Abishalom [or] Uriel of Gibeah. ^K3And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with YHVH his God, as the heart of David his father. ^K4Nevertheless for David’s sake did YHVH his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: ^K5Because David did that which was right in the eyes of YHVH, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ^K6And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. ^K7b/C2bAnd there was war between Abijam [or] Abijah and Jeroboam.

³And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour. ⁴And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; ⁵Ought ye not to know that YHVH God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord. ⁷And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. ⁸And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of YHVH in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with your golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹Have ye not cast out the priests of YHVH, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. ¹⁰But as for us, YHVH is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto YHVH, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business: ¹¹And they burn unto YHVH every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of YHVH our God; but ye have forsaken him. ¹²And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against YHVH God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper. ¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto YHVH, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon YHVH God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephraim with the towns thereof. ²¹But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.

^K7a/C22Now the rest of the acts of Abijam [or] Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah and in the story of the prophet Iddo?