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 straight 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.