King James Version · The divided kingdom
2 Chronicles 13
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Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began to reign over Judah. He reigned three years in . His mother’s name also was Michaiah the daughter of of . And there was war between and Jeroboam. And set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being of valour. And stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount , and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; Ought ye not to know that of Israel gave over Israel to for ever, even to him and to his sons by a of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of , the , is up, and hath rebelled against his . And there are gathered unto him men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against the son of , when was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand of in the hand of the sons of ; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not cast out the priests of , the sons of , and the , and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, is our , and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto , are the sons of , and the wait upon their business: And they burn unto every morning and every evening burnt and : the also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of our ; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding to cry alarm against you. O , fight ye not against of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper. But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto , and the priests sounded with the . Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that smote Jeroboam and all Israel before and Judah. And the fled before Judah: and them into their hand. And and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. Thus the were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon of their fathers. And pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth–el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof. Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of : and struck him, and he . But waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters. And the rest of the acts of , and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The divided kingdom, 931 BC to 745 BC ›
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, often at odds, with Aram of Damascus as the immediate threat and Assyria growing in the distance.
- Aram of Damascus
- The immediate enemy for most of two centuries, close enough to raid every campaigning season and strong enough to take territory. Most of the wars in Kings that read like national emergencies are border wars with Damascus.
- Assyria
- Growing steadily in the distance. Shalmaneser III fights a coalition at Qarqar in 853 BC and his own inscription lists King Ahab of Israel among his opponents with two thousand chariots, the earliest Assyrian mention of an Israelite king. A later monument shows Jehu bowing and paying tribute. Assyria is not yet the destroyer, but it is already taking notes.
- Egypt
- Divided and unreliable, capable of the occasional raid, such as Shishak stripping the temple in Rehoboam's fifth year, but no longer an empire that governs the Levant.
- Further afield
- The Greeks adopt the alphabet, hold the first Olympiad by tradition in 776 BC, and begin to compose the Homeric poems. Rome is founded by tradition in 753 BC, a village of huts at this point. This is the century in which the classical world begins.