2 Tawarikh 13:8-18

13:8 Now you are declaring that you will resist the Lord’s rule through the Davidic dynasty. ¹  You have a huge army, ²  and bring with you the gold calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. 13:9 But you banished ³  the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods! ⁴  13:10 But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests and the Levites assist them with the work. ⁵  13:11 They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly ⁶  we are observing the Lord our God’s regulations, but you have rejected him. 13:12 Now look, God is with us as our leader. His priests are ready to blow the trumpets to signal the attack against you. ⁷  You Israelites, don’t fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, ⁸  for you will not win!”

13:13 Now Jeroboam had sent some men to ambush the Judahite army from behind. ⁹  The main army was in front of the Judahite army; ¹⁰  the ambushers were behind it. 13:14 The men of Judah turned around and realized they were being attacked from the front and the rear. ¹¹  So they cried out for help to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets, 13:15 and the men of Judah gave ¹²  the battle cry. As the men of Judah gave the battle cry, the Lord struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 13:16 The Israelites fled from before the Judahite army, ¹³  and God handed them over to the men of Judah. ¹⁴  13:17 Abijah and his army thoroughly defeated them; ¹⁵  500,000 well-trained Israelite men fell dead. ¹⁶  13:18 That day ¹⁷  the Israelites were defeated; the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their ancestors.

[13:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the kingdom of the Lord by the hand of the sons of David.”

[13:8]  ² tn Or “horde”; or “multitude.”

[13:9]  ³ tn In the Hebrew text this is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Did you not banish?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you did,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “But you banished.”

[13:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “whoever comes to fill his hand with a bull of a son of cattle, and seven rams, and he is a priest to no-gods.”

[13:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and priests serving the Lord [are] the sons of Aaron and the Levites in the work.”

[13:11]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[13:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his priests and the trumpets of the war alarm [are ready] to sound out against you.”

[13:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 18).

[13:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Jeroboam had caused to circle around an ambush to come from behind them.”

[13:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Judah.”

[13:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and Judah turned, and, look, to them [was] the battle in front and behind.”

[13:15]  ¹² tn Heb “shouted out.”

[13:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “Judah.”

[13:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the men of Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “struck them down with a great striking down.”

[13:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and [the] slain from Israel fell, five hundred thousand chosen men.”

[13:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “at that time.”