1. Abijah became the new king of Judah. This was during the 18th year that Jeroboam son of Nebat ruled Israel.
2. Abijah ruled in Jerusalem for three years. His mother’s name was Maacah. She was the daughter of Uriel, from the town of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3. Abijah’s army had 400,000 brave soldiers. Abijah led that army into battle. Jeroboam’s army had 800,000 brave soldiers. Jeroboam got ready to have a war with Abijah.
4. Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me!
5. You should know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave David and his sons the right to be king over Israel forever. God gave this right to David with an agreement of salt.
6. But Jeroboam turned against his master. Jeroboam son of Nebat was one of the servants of David’s son Solomon.
7. Then worthless, evil men became friends with Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam and the bad men turned against Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. Rehoboam was young and did not have experience. So he could not stop Jeroboam and his bad friends.
8. “Now, you people have decided to defeat the Lord’S kingdom—the kingdom that is ruled by David’s sons. You have so many people with you and you have the golden calves—the ‘gods’ that Jeroboam made for you.
9. You threw out the Lord’S priests, the descendants of Aaron. And you threw out the Levites. Then you chose your own priests, as every other nation on earth does. And now, anyone who will bring a young bull and seven rams can become a priest to serve these ‘no-gods.’
10. “But as for us, the Lord is our God. We people of Judah have not refused to obey God. We have not left him. The priests who serve the Lord are Aaron’s sons, and the Levites help the priests in their work.