[1] And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and got together the men of Judah and
Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand of his best fighting-men, to make
war against Israel and get the kingdom back for Rehoboam. [2] But the word
of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, [3] Say to Rehoboam,
the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,
[4] The Lord has said, You are not to go to war against your brothers: let
every man go back to his house, for this thing is my purpose. So they gave
ear to the words of the Lord and were turned back from fighting against
Jeroboam. [5] Now Rehoboam kept in Jerusalem, building walled towns in
Judah. [6] He was the builder of Beth-lehem and Etam and Tekoa [7] And
Beth-zur and Soco and Adullam [8] And Gath and Mareshah and Ziph [9] And
Adoraim and Lachish and Azekah [10] And Zorah and Aijalon and Hebron,
walled towns in Judah and Benjamin. [11] And he made the walled towns
strong, and he put captains in them and stores of food, oil, and wine. [12]
And in every town he put stores of body-covers and spears, and made them
very strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his. [13] And the priests and
Levites who were in all Israel came together to him from every part of
their country. [14] For the Levites gave up their living-places and their
property, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons had
sent them away, not letting them be priests to the Lord; [15] And he
himself made priests for the high places, and for the images of he-goats
and oxen which he had made. [16] And after them, from all the tribes of
Israel, all those whose hearts were fixed and true to the Lord, the God of
Israel, came to Jerusalem to make offerings to the Lord, the God of their
fathers. [17] So they went on increasing the power of the kingdom of Judah,
and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong for three years; and for
three years they went in the ways of David and Solomon. [18] And Rehoboam
took as his wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David and
of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse; [19] And she had sons
by him, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. [20] And after her he took Maacah, the
daughter of Absalom; and she had Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith by
him. [21] Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, was dearer to Rehoboam than all
his wives and his servant-wives: (for he had eighteen wives and sixty
servant-wives, and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty
daughters.) [22] Rehoboam made Abijah, the son of Maacah, chief and ruler
among his brothers, for it was his purpose to make him king. [23] And in
his wisdom he had his sons stationed in every walled town through all the
lands of Judah and Benjamin; and he gave them a great store of food, and
took wives for them.
