Judah's King Abijah
1 In the eighteenth year of [Israel's] King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah;
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he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; [she was] from Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
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Abijah set his army of warriors in order with 400,000 choice men. Jeroboam arranged his mighty army of 800,000 choice men in battle formation against him.
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Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Jeroboam and all Israel, hear me.
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Don't you know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?
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But Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.
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Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young, inexperienced, and unable to assert himself against them.
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"And now you are saying you can assert yourselves against the Lord's kingdom in the hand of [one of] David's sons. You are a vast multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.
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Didn't you banish the priests of the Lord, the descendants of Aaron and the Levites, and make your own priests like the peoples of [other] lands do? Whoever comes to ordain himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.
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"But as for us, the Lord is our God. We have not abandoned Him; the priests ministering to the Lord are descendants of Aaron, and the Levites [serve] at their tasks.