2 *Chronicles 11

₁Rehoboam went to Jerusalem and he called all the men of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin to come to him. Rehoboam chose 180 000 soldiers to go to war_against the Israelites, to take the land back for himself. ₂But the Lord said to Shemaiah, a man of God: ₃‘You must go and talk to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king_of_Judah, and to all the Israelites in the land_of_Judah and the people of Benjamin. You must tell them: ₄The Lord says: “Do not go to war_against your brothers. You must go back. Every man must go home because I made these things happen.” ’

Rehoboam and his men listened to the message of God and they went back. They did not attack Jeroboam and the people of Israel.

₅Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and he made the towns of Judah strong. ₆He built stronger walls around the towns of Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ₇Beth-Zur, Soko, Adullam, ₈Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ₉Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ₁₀Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. These were the towns and cities in the land_of_Judah and Benjamin which had strong walls. ₁₁Rehoboam made the walls stronger and he chose people to rule over the towns. There were store rooms with food, olive oil and wine ₁₂and he also put shields and spears in the towns. Rehoboam was the king of Judah and Benjamin.

₁₃The priests and Levites from all over Israel came from the towns where they lived among the Israelites and they went to King Rehoboam. ₁₄The Levites left their land and they came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had said they could no longer be priests of the Lord. ₁₅Jeroboam chose his own priests to work at the places_of_sacrifice and to serve the images of goats and calves that he made. ₁₆People from all the tribes_of_Israel came with the priests and Levites to Jerusalem. They came because they wanted to serve the Lord and they came to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their forefathers. ₁₇They made the land_of_Judah stronger and they served Rehoboam, son of Solomon, for 3 years. In those 3 years they lived the way that David and Solomon had lived.

₁₈Rehoboam married Mahalath. Her parents were Jerimoth, son of David, and Abihail, daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse. ₁₉Rehoboam and Mahalath had sons. Their names were Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. ₂₀Then Rehoboam married Maakah, daughter of Absalom, and their sons were Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. ₂₁Rehoboam loved Maakah, daughter of Absalom, more than his other wives and concubines. He was married to 18 wives and he had 60 concubines and he was the father of 28 sons and 60 daughters. ₂₂Rehoboam chose Abijah, son of Maakah, to be the most important prince and he made Abijah leader of his brothers so that Abijah could become king. ₂₃Rehoboam was wise and he put some of his sons in each town that had strong walls in Judah. He gave them more than enough food and he gave wives to each of them.