The Daily Audio Bible

11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered together the family of Judah and Benjamin. There were 180,000 chosen men of war gathered to fight against Israel to make Rehoboam their king again. ² But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah. And speak to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin. Tell them, ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says, “You must not go up to fight against your brothers. Every man return to his house. For I have made this happen.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned. They did not go against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Makes the Cities Strong

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built strong cities in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These are strong cities with walls, in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the strong places stronger. He put leaders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And he put battle-coverings and spears in every city and made them very strong. So he kept Judah and Benjamin.

Religious Leaders and Levites Come to Judah

¹³ The religious leaders and the Levites who were in all Israel joined with Rehoboam from all places where they lived. ¹⁴ The Levites left their fields and land and came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons had stopped them from working as religious leaders for the Lord. ¹⁵ He chose religious leaders of his own for the high places, for the goat-gods and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶ Those from all the families of Israel who set their hearts on following the Lord God of Israel came after them to Jerusalem. They came to give gifts in worship to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ They made the nation of Judah strong, and gave strength to Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years. For they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam married Mahalath. She was the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹ She gave birth to Rehoboam’s sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom. She gave birth to his sons: Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and women who acted as his wives. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty women who acted as his wives. He was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam chose Maacah’s son Abijah to be the head leader among his brothers. For he wanted to make him king. ²³ And he acted with wisdom. He spread some of his sons to every strong city in all the lands of Judah and Benjamin. He gave them much food, and found many wives for them.

Egypt Takes Judah

12 When King Rehoboam’s nation had been made strong, he and all Israel turned away from the Law of the Lord. ² After Rehoboam had been king for five years, King Shishak of Egypt came to fight against Jerusalem. This happened because they had not been faithful to the Lord. ³ Shishak came with 1,200 war-wagons and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were too many to number. There were Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. ⁴ He took the strong cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then Shemaiah the man of God came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “The Lord says, ‘You have left Me. So I have left you to Shishak.’” ⁶ So the princes of Israel and the king put away their pride and said, “The Lord is right and good.”

⁷ The Lord saw that they had put away their pride. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have put away their pride. I will not destroy them. But I will give them some help. My anger will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the power of Shishak. ⁸ But they will be made to work for him. In this way they may learn the difference between My work and the work of the kings of the countries.”

⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt came and fought against Jerusalem. He took the riches of the Lord’s house and the riches of the king’s house. He took everything. He even took the battle-coverings of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰ King Rehoboam made battle-coverings of brass in their place. And he put them in the care of the captains of the soldiers who watched the door of the king’s house. ¹¹ Every time the king went into the house of the Lord, the soldiers came and carried the coverings. Then they returned them to the soldiers’ room. ¹² When Rehoboam put away his pride, the Lord’s anger turned away from him. He was not destroyed. And things were good in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam’s Rule

¹³ So King Rehoboam became strong in Jerusalem and ruled. He was forty-one years old when he began to rule. And he ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years. This was the city the Lord had chosen from all the families of Israel to put His name there. The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did what was sinful, because he did not follow the Lord with all his heart.

¹⁵ The acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are written in the writings of Shemaiah the man of God and of Iddo the man who told what would happen in the future. Wars were always being fought between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ¹⁶ Rehoboam died and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.

Abijah’s Rule in Judah

13 Abijah became the king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah began the battle with an army of powerful soldiers, 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam came ready for battle against him with 800,000 chosen men who were powerful soldiers.

⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵ Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by an agreement of salt? ⁶ But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, went against his lord the king. ⁷ And men of no worth gathered around him. They were bad men who were too strong for Rehoboam the son of Solomon. Rehoboam was young and weak and could not stand against them. ⁸ So now you plan to stand against the power of the Lord through the sons of David. You think you can because you have many people and the gold calves Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹ Have you not driven out the religious leaders of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites? And have you not made religious leaders for yourselves like the people of other lands? Whoever comes to make himself holy with a young bull and seven rams becomes a religious leader of false gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God. We have not left Him. The sons of Aaron are working for the Lord as religious leaders. And the Levites are doing their work. ¹¹ Every morning they give burnt gifts and burn special perfume to the Lord. The holy bread is set on the clean table. And the gold lamp-stand with its lamps is ready to light every evening. For we do the work of the Lord our God. But you have left Him. ¹² Now see, God is with us at our head. His religious leaders are ready to blow the horns, to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers. For you cannot win.”

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent soldiers to come from behind. So Israel was in front of Judah, and soldiers were behind them also. ¹⁴ When Judah looked, they saw that the battle was both in front of them and behind them. So they cried to the Lord, and the religious leaders blew the horns. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah sounded a war cry. And when they sounded the war cry, God began destroying Jeroboam and all Israel around Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ The men of Israel ran away from Judah. God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people killed many of them. There were 500,000 chosen men of Israel killed. ¹⁸ So the sons of Israel were set back at that time. The sons of Judah were strong because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah went after Jeroboam. He took from him the cities of Bethel with its towns, Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephron with its towns. ²⁰ Jeroboam did not become strong again in the days of Abijah. And the Lord destroyed him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah became very strong. He married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words, are written in the story of Iddo the man of God.

²⁶ In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us where we are weak. We do not know how to pray or what we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays to God for us with sounds that cannot be put into words. ²⁷ God knows the hearts of men. He knows what the Holy Spirit is thinking. The Holy Spirit prays for those who belong to Christ the way God wants Him to pray.

²⁸ We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are chosen to be a part of His plan. ²⁹ God knew from the beginning who would put their trust in Him. So He chose them and made them to be like His Son. Christ was first and all those who belong to God are His brothers. ³⁰ He called to Himself also those He chose. Those He called, He made right with Himself. Then He shared His shining-greatness with those He made right with Himself.

³¹ What can we say about all these things? Since God is for us, who can be against us? ³² God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all. Then with His Son, will He not give us all things? ³³ Who can say anything against the people God has chosen? It is God Who says they are right with Himself. ³⁴ Who then can say we are guilty? It was Christ Jesus Who died. He was raised from the dead. He is on the right side of God praying to Him for us. ³⁵ Who can keep us away from the love of Christ? Can trouble or problems? Can suffering wrong from others or having no food? Can it be because of no clothes or because of danger or war? ³⁶ The Holy Writings say, “Because of belonging to Jesus, we are in danger of being killed all day long. We are thought of as sheep that are ready to be killed.” ^{(A) 37} But we have power over all these things through Jesus Who loves us so much. ³⁸ For I know that nothing can keep us from the love of God. Death cannot! Life cannot! Angels cannot! Leaders cannot! Any other power cannot! Hard things now or in the future cannot! ³⁹ The world above or the world below cannot! Any other living thing cannot keep us away from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

³⁷ I went after those who fight against me, and caught them. And I did not return until they were destroyed. ³⁸ I hit them so they were not able to rise. They fell under my feet. ³⁹ You have given me strength for war. You have put under me those who have fought against me. ⁴⁰ You have made them turn their backs to me also. And I destroyed those who hated me. ⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save. They cried to the Lord, but He did not answer them. ⁴² Then I beat them as small as the dust in the wind. I emptied them out like mud in the streets.

⁴³ You have taken me away from the fighting of the people. You have made me the leader of nations. People whom I have not known will serve me. ⁴⁴ As soon as they hear, they obey me. Those from other lands obey me. ⁴⁵ These people from other lands lose their strength of heart. And they come shaking from behind their walls. ⁴⁶ The Lord lives! How great is my Rock! Praise be to the God Who saves me! ⁴⁷ He is the God Who punishes those who have done wrong to me. He puts nations under my rule. ⁴⁸ He saves me from those who hate me. Yes, You lift me above those who rise up against me. You save me from those who want to hurt me. ⁴⁹ So I will give thanks to You among the nations, O Lord. And I will sing praises to Your name. ⁵⁰ He gives His king great power over trouble. And He shows loving-kindness to His chosen one, to David, and to his children after him forever.

²⁷ My son, stop listening to teaching that will cause you to turn away from the words of much learning.

²⁸ A man without worth who tells all he knows laughs at what is right and fair, and the mouth of the sinful spreads wrong-doing.

²⁹ Ways of punishing are made ready for those who laugh at the truth, and beatings are for the back of fools.