2 Chronicles 11
1 And he came Rehoboam Jerusalem and he called together [the] house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand chosen [man] maker[s] of war to do battle with Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He wanted them to fight against [the northern tribes of] Israel [and defeat them], in order that he could rule [all the tribes of] the kingdom again.
2 And it came [the] word of Yahweh to Shemaiah [the] man of God saying.
But Yahweh spoke to the prophet Shemaiah and said this to him:
3 Say to Rehoboam [the] son of Solomon [the] king of Judah and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin saying.
“Go and tell this to [Solomon’s son] Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and to all the Israeli people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin:
4 Thus he says Yahweh not you must go up and not you must do battle with countrymen your return everyone to own house his for from with me it has occurred the thing this and they obeyed [the] words of Yahweh and they turned back from going against Jeroboam.
‘Yahweh says that you must not go to fight against [the people of Israel; they are] your distant relatives. All of you must go home. What has happened is what Yahweh wanted to happen.’” [So Shemaiah went and told that to them, ] and they all heeded what Yahweh had commanded them to do, and they did not attack Jeroboam [and his soldiers].
5 And he dwelt Rehoboam in Jerusalem and he built cities to fortification in Judah.
Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and his workers built walls around several of the cities and towns in Judah to protect them [against enemy attacks].
6 And he built Beth-lehem and Etam and Tekoa.
In [the area that belonged to] the tribes of Judah and Benjamin they built walls around Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
7 And Beth Zur and Socoh and Adullam.
Beth-Zur, Soco, Adullam,
8 And Gath and Mareshah and Ziph.
Gath, Mareshah,
9 And Adoraim and Lachish and Azekah.
Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
10 And Zorah and Aijalon and Hebron which [were] in Judah and in Benjamin cities of fortifications.
Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron.
11 And he strengthened the fortifications and he put in them commanders and supplies of food and oil and wine.
He also appointed an army commander in each of those cities and towns, and gave them supplies of food, olive oil, and wine [to keep in storage].
12 And [were] in every city and a city body shields and spears and he made strong them to abundance exceedingly and it belonged to him Judah and Benjamin.
He put shields and spears in all the cities and made them well-protected. So he continued to rule the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
13 And the priests and the Levites who [were] in all Israel they took their stand at him from all territory their.
The priests and other descendants of Levi throughout Israel supported Rehoboam.
14 For they forsook the Levites pasture lands their and property their and they went to Judah and to Jerusalem for he had rejected them Jeroboam and sons his from serving as priests to Yahweh.
The descendants of Levi [who lived outside the territory of Judah and Benjamin] abandoned their property and their pastureland, and they came to Jerusalem and [to other places in] Judah, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to do the work of priests of Yahweh.
15 And he appointed for himself priests for the high places and for the goats and for the calves which he had made.
Instead, Jeroboam appointed the priests that he wanted to work [at the altars he commanded to be built] on the hilltops, [to offer sacrifices to] the idols that he commanded to be made [that resembled] goats and calves.
16 And after them from all [the] tribes of Israel those [who] set heart their to seek Yahweh [the] God of Israel they came Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh [the] God of ancestors their.
And people from every tribe in Israel who wanted to worship Yahweh, the God to whom the Israelis belonged, went with the descendants of Levi to Jerusalem to live there and to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped].
17 And they strengthened [the] kingdom of Judah and they strengthened Rehoboam [the] son of Solomon for years three for they walked in [the] way of David and Solomon for years three.
They caused the kingdom of Judah to be strong, and for three years they were happy that Solomon’s son Rehoboam was the king. During that time they conducted their lives [righteously] as David and Solomon had done previously.
18 And he took for himself Rehoboam a wife Mahalath ([the] daughter of *Q(K)*) Jerimoth [the] son of David Abihail [the] daughter of Eliab [the] son of Jesse.
Rehoboam married Mahalath. She was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth, and her mother was Abihail, the daughter of Eliab and granddaughter of Jesse.
19 And she bore to him sons Jeush and Shemariah and Zaham.
Rehoboam and Mahalath had three sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20 And after her he took Maacah [the] daughter of Absalom and she bore to him Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith.
Later Rehoboam married Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, and they had four sons: Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21 And he loved Rehoboam Maacah [the] daughter of Absalom more than all wives his and concubines his for wives eight-teen he had taken and concubines sixty and he fathered twenty and eight sons and sixty daughters.
Rehoboam loved Maacah more than he loved any other of his wives and slave wives. Altogether he had 18 wives and 60 slave wives, and 28 sons and 60 daughters.
22 And he appointed to the chief Rehoboam Abijah [the] son of Maacah to leader among brothers his for to make king him.
Rehoboam appointed his son Abijah to be the leader of his [older and younger] brothers, because he wanted to appoint Abijah to be the next king.
23 And he acted wisely and he distributed some of all sons his to all [the] lands of Judah and Benjamin to all [the] cities of fortifications and he gave to them food to abundance and he sought a multitude of wives.
He very wisely sent some of his other sons to other cities in the areas of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the other cities that had walls around them. He gave them plenty of supplies and many wives.
