1. Abijam became king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Nebat’s son.
2. He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, and she was Abishalom’s daughter.
3. Abijam followed all the sinful ways of his father before him. He didn’t follow the Lord his God with all his heart like his ancestor David.
4. Even so, on account of David, the Lord his God gave Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem by supporting his son who succeeded him and by preserving Jerusalem.
5. This was because David did the right thing in the Lord’s eyes. David didn’t deviate from anything the Lord commanded him throughout his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
6. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as Abijam lived.
7. The rest of Abijam’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.