3 Abijah went to fight with an army of four hundred thousand select troops against Jeroboam’s select forces numbering eight hundred thousand, who were arrayed in battle formation.
4 Abijah stood on the heights of Mount Zemaraim in Ephraim’s highlands and said:“Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!
5 Surely you know that the Lord, Israel’s God, made an unbreakable covenant with David and his descendants that they would rule Israel forever.
6 It was Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, the servant of Solomon, David’s son, who rebelled against his master.
7 When some useless, worthless people joined his cause, they overpowered Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, who was too young and timid to resist them.
8 And now do you intend to challenge the Lord’s royal rule, entrusted to David’s descendants? You may have a numerical advantage, as well as the gold calves Jeroboam made for you as gods.
9 But you’ve banished the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s sons, along with the Levites, so that you could appoint your own priests as other countries do. Now anyone who shows up with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of these phony gods!