King James Version
2 Chronicles • Chapter 11
1
And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and gathered the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen young men who were warriors, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
2
And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying.
3
Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying...
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Thus says the LORD: "Do not go up and do not fight with your brothers; return, every man to his house, for this thing has come from me." And they heard the words of the LORD and returned from going up to Jeroboam.
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And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah.
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And he built the house of Bethlehem and Eitam and Tekoa.
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And (the) house of Zur, and (the) place of Shoko, and (the) place of Adullam.
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And Gath and Mareshah and Ziph.
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And/with Edom and/with Lachish and/with Azekah.
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And Etzerah and Aijalon and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities.
11
And he strengthened the fortifications and he placed in them leaders and storages of food and oil and wine.
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And in every city and city, shields and spears, and they strengthened themselves greatly; and Judah and Benjamin were with him.
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And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood by me from all the borders.
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For the Levites abandoned their pasture lands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had neglected them from serving as priests to the Lord.
15
And he appointed priests for the high places and for the goats and for the calves that he had made.
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And after them, from all the tribes of Israel, those who gave their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors.
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And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and they supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.
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And Rehoboam took for himself a wife, Maacah the daughter of Abishalom, the daughter of Eliab the son of Jess.
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And she bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
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And after he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, she bore to him Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shlomith.
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And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines, for he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
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And he set Abijah the son of Maachah as a leader over the heads of his brothers, for he was to be king.
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And he built and expanded from all his sons to all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities, and he gave them abundant provisions and he asked for many women.