2 Tawarikh 12:1--14:15
Konteks12:1 After Rehoboam’s rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord. 12:2 Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 12:3 He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. 12:4 He captured the fortified cities of Judah and marched against Jerusalem.
12:5 Shemaiah the prophet visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.’” 1 12:6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.” 2 12:7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah: 3 “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. 4 My anger will not be unleashed against 5 Jerusalem through 6 Shishak. 12:8 Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.” 7
12:9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. 12:10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard 8 who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 12:11 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 9
12:12 So when Rehoboam 10 humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; 11 Judah experienced some good things. 12 12:13 King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; 13 he 14 was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. 15 Rehoboam’s 16 mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. 12:14 He did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. 17
12:15 The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded 18 in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records. 12:16 Then Rehoboam passed away 19 and was buried in the City of David. 20 His son Abijah replaced him as king.
13:1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 13:2 He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. 21 His mother was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. 22
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 13:3 Abijah launched the attack with 400,000 well-trained warriors, 23 while Jeroboam deployed against him 800,000 well-trained warriors. 24
13:4 Abijah ascended Mount Zemaraim, in the Ephraimite hill country, and said: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! 13:5 Don’t you realize that the Lord God of Israel has given David and his dynasty lasting dominion over Israel by a formal agreement? 25 13:6 Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master. 13:7 Lawless good-for-nothing men 26 gathered around him and conspired 27 against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was an inexperienced young man 28 and could not resist them. 13:8 Now you are declaring that you will resist the Lord’s rule through the Davidic dynasty. 29 You have a huge army, 30 and bring with you the gold calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. 13:9 But you banished 31 the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods! 32 13:10 But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests and the Levites assist them with the work. 33 13:11 They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly 34 we are observing the Lord our God’s regulations, but you have rejected him. 13:12 Now look, God is with us as our leader. His priests are ready to blow the trumpets to signal the attack against you. 35 You Israelites, don’t fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, 36 for you will not win!”
13:13 Now Jeroboam had sent some men to ambush the Judahite army from behind. 37 The main army was in front of the Judahite army; 38 the ambushers were behind it. 13:14 The men of Judah turned around and realized they were being attacked from the front and the rear. 39 So they cried out for help to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets, 13:15 and the men of Judah gave 40 the battle cry. As the men of Judah gave the battle cry, the Lord struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 13:16 The Israelites fled from before the Judahite army, 41 and God handed them over to the men of Judah. 42 13:17 Abijah and his army thoroughly defeated them; 43 500,000 well-trained Israelite men fell dead. 44 13:18 That day 45 the Israelites were defeated; the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their ancestors.
13:19 Abijah chased Jeroboam; he seized from him these cities: Bethel 46 and its surrounding towns, Jeshanah and its surrounding towns, and Ephron and its surrounding towns. 13:20 Jeroboam did not regain power during the reign of Abijah. 47 The Lord struck him down and he died. 13:21 Abijah’s power grew; he had 48 fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
13:22 The rest of the events of Abijah’s reign, including his deeds and sayings, 49 are recorded in the writings of the prophet Iddo.
14:1 (13:23) 50 Abijah passed away 51 and was buried in the City of David. 52 His son Asa replaced him as king. During his reign 53 the land had rest for ten years.
14:2 (14:1) Asa did what the Lord his God desired and approved. 54 14:3 He removed the pagan altars 55 and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. 56 14:4 He ordered Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors 57 and to observe his law and commands. 58 14:5 He removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. The kingdom had rest under his rule. 59
14:6 He built fortified cities throughout Judah, for the land was at rest and there was no war during those years; the Lord gave him peace. 14:7 He said to the people of Judah: 60 “Let’s build these cities and fortify them with walls, towers, and barred gates. 61 The land remains ours because we have followed 62 the Lord our God and he has made us secure on all sides.” 63 So they built the cities 64 and prospered.
14:8 Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, equipped with large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried small shields and were adept archers; they were all skilled warriors. 14:9 Zerah the Cushite marched against them with an army of 1,000,000 65 men and 300 chariots. He arrived at Mareshah, 14:10 and Asa went out to oppose him. They deployed for battle in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
14:11 Asa prayed 66 to the Lord his God: “O Lord, there is no one but you who can help the weak when they are vastly outnumbered. 67 Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you and have marched on your behalf against this huge army. 68 O Lord our God, don’t let men prevail against you!” 69 14:12 The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, 14:13 and Asa and his army chased them as far as Gerar. The Cushites were wiped out; 70 they were shattered before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah 71 carried off a huge amount of plunder. 14:14 They defeated all the cities surrounding Gerar, for the Lord caused them to panic. 72 The men of Judah 73 looted all the cities, for they contained a huge amount of goods. 74 14:15 They also attacked the tents of the herdsmen in charge of the livestock. 75 They carried off many sheep and camels and then returned to Jerusalem. 76
[12:5] 1 tn Heb “also I have rejected you into the hand of Shishak.”
[12:6] 2 tn Or “fair,” meaning the
[12:7] 3 tn Heb “the word of the
[12:7] 4 tn Heb “and I will give to them soon deliverance.”
[12:7] 5 tn Or “gush forth upon.”
[12:7] 6 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
[12:8] 7 tn Heb “so they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.”
[12:10] 8 tn Heb “runners” (also in v. 11).
[12:11] 9 tn Heb “to the chamber of the runners.”
[12:12] 10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:12] 11 tn Heb “the anger of the
[12:12] 12 tn Heb “and also in Judah there were good things.”
[12:13] 13 tn Heb “and the king, Rehoboam, strengthened himself in Jerusalem and ruled.”
[12:13] 14 tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The recurrence of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.
[12:13] 15 tn Heb “the city where the
[12:13] 16 tn Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:14] 17 tn Heb “because he did not set his heart to seek the
[12:15] 18 tn Heb “As for the events of Rehoboam, the former and the latter, are they not written?”
[12:16] 19 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
[12:16] 20 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
[13:2] 21 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[13:2] 22 tn The parallel text in 1 Kgs 15:1 identifies his mother as “Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom” [=Absalom, 2 Chr 11:20). Although most English versions identify the mother’s father as Uriel of Gibeah, a number of English versions substitute the name “Maacah” here for the mother (e.g., NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT).
[13:3] 23 tn Heb “and Abijah bound [i.e., began] the battle with a force of warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men.”
[13:3] 24 tn Heb “and Jeroboam arranged with him [for] battle with eight hundred thousand chosen men, strong warrior[s].”
[13:5] 25 tn Heb “Do you not know that the
[13:5] sn For other references to a “covenant of salt,” see Lev 2:13 and Num 18:19.
[13:7] 26 tn Heb “empty men, sons of wickedness.”
[13:7] 27 tn Heb “strengthened themselves.”
[13:7] 28 tn Heb “a young man and tender of heart.”
[13:8] 29 tn Heb “the kingdom of the
[13:8] 30 tn Or “horde”; or “multitude.”
[13:9] 31 tn In the Hebrew text this is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Did you not banish?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you did,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “But you banished.”
[13:9] 32 tn Heb “whoever comes to fill his hand with a bull of a son of cattle, and seven rams, and he is a priest to no-gods.”
[13:10] 33 tn Heb “and priests serving the
[13:12] 35 tn Heb “and his priests and the trumpets of the war alarm [are ready] to sound out against you.”
[13:12] 36 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 18).
[13:13] 37 tn Heb “and Jeroboam had caused to circle around an ambush to come from behind them.”
[13:14] 39 tn Heb “and Judah turned, and, look, to them [was] the battle in front and behind.”
[13:15] 40 tn Heb “shouted out.”
[13:16] 42 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:17] 43 tn Heb “struck them down with a great striking down.”
[13:17] 44 tn Heb “and [the] slain from Israel fell, five hundred thousand chosen men.”
[13:18] 45 tn Heb “at that time.”
[13:19] 46 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
[13:20] 47 tn Heb “and the strength of Jeroboam was not retained again in the days of Abijah.”
[13:21] 48 tn Heb “lifted up for himself.”
[13:22] 49 tn Heb “and his ways and his words.”
[14:1] 50 sn Beginning with 14:1, the verse numbers through 14:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 14:1 ET = 13:23 HT, 14:2 ET = 14:1 HT, 14:3 ET = 14:2 HT, etc., through 14:15 ET = 14:14 HT. Beginning with 15:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
[14:1] 51 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
[14:1] 52 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
[14:1] 53 tn Heb “in his days.”
[14:2] 54 tn Heb “and Asa did the good and the right in the eyes of the
[14:3] 55 tn Heb “the altars of the foreigner.”
[14:3] 56 sn Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 7:5; 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
[14:4] 58 tn Heb “the law and the command.”
[14:5] 59 tn Heb “before him.”
[14:7] 60 tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy for the people of Judah.
[14:7] 61 tn Heb “and we will surround [them] with wall[s] and towers, doors, and bars.”
[14:7] 63 tn Heb “and he has given us rest all around.”
[14:7] 64 tn The words “the cities” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
[14:9] 65 tn Heb “a thousand thousands.”
[14:11] 66 tn Heb “called out.”
[14:11] 67 tn Heb “there is not with you to help between many with regard to [the one] without strength.”
[14:11] 68 tn Heb “and in your name we have come against this multitude.”
[14:11] 69 tn Heb “let not man retain [strength] with you.”
[14:13] 70 tn Heb “and there fell from the Cushites so that there was not to them preservation of life.”
[14:13] 71 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[14:14] 72 tn Heb “for the terror of the
[14:14] 73 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[14:14] 74 tn Heb “for great plunder was in them.”
[14:15] 75 tn Heb “and also they struck down the tents of the livestock.”
[14:15] 76 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
