King Abijah of Judah
(1 Kings 15.1-8)1 Abijah became king of Judah in Jeroboam's eighteenth year as king of Israel, 2 and he ruled from Jerusalem for three years. His mother was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.
Some time later, Abijah and King Jeroboam of Israel went to war against each other. 3 Abijah's army had 400,000 troops, and Jeroboam met him in battle with 800,000 troops.
4 Abijah went to the top of Mount Zemaraim in the hills of Ephraim and shouted:
Listen, Jeroboam and all you Israelites! 5 The Lord God of Israel has made a solemn promise that every king of Israel will be from David's family. 6 But Jeroboam, you were King Solomon's official, and you rebelled. 7 Then right after Rehoboam became king, you and your bunch of worthless followers challenged Rehoboam, who was too young to know how to stop you.
8 Now you and your powerful army think you can stand up to the kingdom that the Lord has given to David's descendants. The only gods you have are those gold statues of calves that Jeroboam made for you. 9 You don't even have descendants of Aaron on your side, because you forced out the Lord's priests and Levites. In their place, you appoint ordinary people to be priests, just as the foreign nations do. In fact, anyone who brings a bull and seven rams to the altar can become a priest of your so-called gods.
10 But we have not turned our backs on the Lord God! Aaron's own descendants serve as our priests, and the Levites are their assistants. 11 Two times every day they offer sacrifices and burn incense to the Lord. They set out the sacred loaves of bread on a table that has been purified, and they light the lamps in the gold lampstand every day at sunset. We follow the commands of the Lord our God—you have rejected him! 12 That's why God is on our side and will lead us into battle when the priests sound the signal on the trumpets. It's no use, Israelites. You might as well give up. There's no way you can defeat the Lord, the God your ancestors worshiped.
13 But while Abijah was talking, Jeroboam had sent some of his troops to attack Judah's army from behind, while the rest attacked from the front. 14 Judah's army realized they were trapped, and so they prayed to the Lord. The priests blew the signal on the trumpet, 15 and the troops let out a battle cry. Then with Abijah leading them into battle, God defeated Jeroboam and Israel's army. 16 The Israelites ran away, and God helped Judah's soldiers slaughter 17 500,000 enemy troops. 18 Judah's army won because they had trusted the Lord God of their ancestors.
19 Abijah kept up his attack on Jeroboam's army and captured the Israelite towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, as well as the villages around them.
20 Jeroboam never regained his power during the rest of Abijah's rule. The Lord punished Jeroboam, and he died, but Abijah became more powerful.
21 Abijah had a total of 14 wives, 22 sons, and 16 daughters. 22 Everything Abijah said and did while he was king is written in the records of Iddo the prophet.
Epangelo laAbia noita yaye
1 Momudo omutimulongo nomutihetatu wepangelo lohamba Jerobeam, Abia a ninga ohamba yaJuda. 2 Okwa pangela omido nhatu muJerusalem. Nedina laina la li Mikaia, omona omukainhu waUriel womuGibea. Ndele pa li oita pokati kaAbia naJerobeam. 3 Ndele Abia okwa hovela oita, a fikama nomatanga ovakwaita ovaladi omayovi omafele ane ovalumenhu ovanyasha. Ndele Jerobeam okwe mu tandela ombinga novalumenhu ovaladi omayovi omavele ahetatu. 4 Opo nee Abia a ya komhunda yaSemaraim yomeemhunda daEfraim, ndele ta ti: “Pwilikinei nge Jerobeam nOvaisraeli aveshe! 5 Mu shi shii nokutya, Omwene Kalunga kaIsrael a pa David epangelo lokupangela Ovaisraeli fiyo alushe, Ye e li pa David novana vaye ovalumenhu, la pama ngaashi ehangano lomongwa? 6 Ndelenee Jerobeam yaNebat, omupiya waSalomo yaDavid, okwa fikama, ndele ta twifa omwene waye eemhata. 7 Novalumenhu vehe nelipulo novakolokoshi va ongala puye ndele va dula Rehabeam yaSalomo. Ndele Rehabeam okwa li omunyasha e nomutima u noumbada, onghee hano a nyengwa okulipopila. 8 Ndele paife tamu diladila okutwa ondubo nepangelo lOmwene li li momake oludalo laDavid, shaashi nye ongudu inene ndele mu neenhana doshingoldo odo Jerobeam e mu ningila oikalunga. 9 Nye inamu taataa ovapristeli vOmwene, oludalo laAron, nOvalevi, ndele mwe likongela ovapristeli ngaashi oiwana yoikwailongo? Keshe ou e uya nongobe onona yomhedi needi heyali deemhedi a tambulwa, ye a ninga omupristeli woikalunga. 10 Ndelenee Kalunga ketu Oye Omwene, ndele inatu mu efa. Otu na ovapristeli, Ovaaron nOvalevi, ava tava longele Omwene. 11 Ndele vo ohava yambele Omwene omaxwikiloyambo ongula keshe nonguloshi keshe, noitwiminifo yedimba liwa, ndele hava kala noshisho shomingome detaliko dokoshitaafula shoshingoldoelela noshoshikwatelwalamba shoshingoldo neelamba dasho, opo di temwe onguloshi keshe. Osheshi fye hatu diinine eenghedimhango dOmwene Kalunga ketu, ndelenee nye mwe mu efa. 12 Ndele taleni, pamwe nafye, heeno, omupitili komesho yetu Oye Kalunga, novapristeli pamwe nomanghuma onghuwo oku mu shikila onghuwo. Ovana vaIsrael, inamu lwifa Omwene Kalunga kooxo, osheshi itamu ka kala nelao.”
13 Ndelenee Jerobeam okwa tula ovanhu mekulwila, konima yavenya; Osho ngaha vamwe va kala komesho yovalumenhu Ovajuda, ndele vakwao mekulwila konima yavo. 14 NOvajuda eshi va punguluka, olwoodi la li komesho yavo nokonima yavo. Ndele va kuwa kOmwene, fimbo ovapristeli va shika omanghuma. 15 Opo nee ovakwaita Ovajuda va yelula onghuwo yolwoodi. Novakwaita Ovajuda eshi va yelula onghuwo yolwoodi, Kalunga okwa taataa Jerobeam nOvaIsraeli aveshe komesho yaAbia nOvajuda. 16 Novana vaIsrael va ya onhapo Ovajuda, ndele Kalunga e va yandja momake avo. 17 Ndele Abia novakwaita vaye, va lwa olwoodi linene navo, onghee hano mOvaisraeli mwa dipawa ovalumenhu ovanyasha omayovi omafele atano. 18 Ndele mefimbo linya ovana vaIsrael va ninipikwa, ndelenee ovana vaJuda va mona eenghono, shaashi ve liameka kOmwene Kalunga kooxe. 19 Ndele Abia okwa shikula Jerobeam nokwa kufa oilando yaye: Betel naJesana naEfron nomikunda dayo. 20 Ndele Jerobeam ina mona vali eenghono pomafiku aAbia. NOmwene e mu denga fiyo a fya.
21 Ndelenee Abia okwa ehena komesho meenghono. Nokwe likongela ovalikadi omulongo navane, ndele a ninga xe yovana ovalumenhu omilongo mbali navavali noyoukadona omulongo navahamano. 22 Noinima imwe tai hepaulula Abia, eendjila daye neendjovo daye, oya shangelwa membo lomafatululo lomuxunganeki Iddo.
