2 Chronicles 11:5-23 ▼

5 And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and he built cities for fortification in Judah.

6 And he built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

7 and Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam,

8 and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,

9 and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah,

10 and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, the fortified cities.

11 And he strengthened the fortifications and put in them captains, and stores of food, and oil, and wine,

12 and in each city by city, shields and spears, and he strengthened them exceedingly greatly, and Judah and Benjamin were unto him.

13 And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him from all their territories.

14 For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possession, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to YHWH.

15 And he appointed for himself priests for the high places, and for the goat demons, and for the calf idols that he had made.

16 And after them, those from all the tribes of Israel who had set their heart to seek YHWH, God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to YHWH, God of their fathers.

17 And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and they made strong Rehoboam son of Solomon three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon three years.

18 And Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth son of David and of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.

19 And she bore to him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham.

20 And after her he took Maacah the granddaughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

21 And Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines. For he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begat twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

22 And Rehoboam appointed as chief Abijah son of Maacah for leader among his brothers, in order to make him king.

23 And He dealt wisely, and he scattered all his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city, and he gave to them provisions in abundance and sought for them many wives.