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.
Abia ta kondjitha Jeroboam
(1 Aak. 15:1-8)1 Momumvo omutimulongo nahetatu gwepangelo lyaJeroboam, omukwaniilwa gwaIsrael, Abia okwa ningi omukwaniilwa gwaJuda 2 nokwa lele omimvo ndatu muJerusalem. Yina oMikaia gaUriel gwokoshilando Gibea.
Iita oya tukuluka pokati kaAbia naJeroboam. 3 Abia okwa li e na aakwiita oofule 400 000, ihe Jeroboam okwe mu kondjitha naakwiita 800 000.
4 Omatangakwiita oga tsakanene mevi lyokoondundu dhaEfraim. Omukwaniilwa Abia a londo kondundu Semaraim e ti igidha Jeroboam nAaisraeli ta ti: “Pulakenii ndje! 5 Omwa tseya tuu kutya Omuwa, Kalunga kaIsrael, okwa dhike ehangano lya kola naDavid e te mu pe pamwe noluvalo lwe uukwaniilwa womuIsrael sigo aluhe? 6 Jeroboam yaNebat okwa tsu ondumbo naSalomo, mwene gwe. 7 Konima okwi ihilile ongundu yaantu yaamakaha e taa thiminike Rehoboam yaSalomo, ngoka a li omugundjukalela nomunenguni, ina vula oku ya sinda. 8 Nena ne otamu kambadhala okukondjitha uuthemba wuukwaniilwa mboka Omuwa e u gandja koluvalo lwaDavid. Ne omu na omatanga ga gongelwa nomu na oontsezi mbali dhoshingoli ndhoka Jeroboam e dhi hambulitha, dhi ninge iikalunga yeni, 9 Omwa tidha po aayambi yOmuwa, oluvalo lwaAaron, nomwa tidha po Aalevi. Peha lyawo omwa langeke mo aayambi, ngaashi iigwana yilwe hayi ningi. Shaa ngoka te ya e na ontsezi nenge oonzi heyali, ota vulu okuyapulwa, a ninge omuyambi gwiikalunga yeni.
10 “Ihe tse otatu longele Omuwa, Kalunga ketu, noinatu mu thiga po. Aayambi yomoluvalo lwaAaron otaa gwanitha iilonga yawo, nAalevi otaye ya yakula. 11 Ongula nongulohi kehe otaye mu yambele omidhidhindjambo niitsininondjambo. Otaa tula iikwiila iiyapuki moondumba koshitaafula sho opalekwa, nongulohi kehe otaa sakala oolamba dhoshihukikwanyeka shoshingoli. Tse otatu gwanitha shoka Omuwa a popi, ihe ne omwe mu thigi po. 12 Kalunga mwene oye omuwiliki gwetu, naayambi ye oyo mbaka yi ilongekidha okuhika omankuma, ye tu ithanene kolugodhi, tu mu kondjithe. Aaisraeli ne, inamu kondjitha Omuwa, Kalunga koohokulu! Itamu vulu sha!”
13 Jeroboam okwa li a tumu aakwiita ye, ya ka kondeke Aajuda okuza konima, manga yamwe ye ya taalela moshipala.
14 Aajuda sho ya lengalenga, oya mono ye li mekondeka. Oya kugile Omuwa ekwatho, naayambi oya hiki omankuma. 15 Aajuda oya tsu onkalu nomewiliko lyaAbia oya homona. Kalunga okwa dhenge Jeroboam netangakwiita lyaIsrael. 16 Aaisraeli oya yi Aajuda ontuku, naKalunga okwa gandja Aaisraeli miikaha yAajuda. 17 Abia naakwiita ye oya dhenge noonkondo Aaisraeli — aakwiita Aaisraeli ya pyokoka oya sile miita aalumentu omayuvi omathele gatano. 18 Osho Aajuda ya sindi Aaisraeli, molwashoka oyo ya li yi inekela Omuwa, Kalunga koohekulu.
19 Abia okwa tidha aakwiita yaJeroboam e ta kutha ko iilando ye yimwe: Betel, Jeshana naEfron nomikunda dhi li popepi niilando mbika. 20 Jeroboam ina nkondopala we muuyuni waAbia. Hugunina Omuwa okwe mu dhenge e ta si.
21 Abia okwa ningi omunankondo. Okwa li a hokana aakiintu omulongo nayane e ta vala aamati omilongo mbali nayaali naakadhona omulongo nayahamano. 22 Iinima yilwe mondjokonona yaAbia, shoka a popile nashoka a longo, oya nyolelwa mondjokonona yomuhunganeki Iddo.
