2 Chronicles 13 is the thirteenth

chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

of the Second Book of Chronicles the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

in the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

or of the second part of the

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Ta ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia ( ; 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Media ...

of Persia (2 Chronicles 10 to 36). The focus of this chapter is the reign of

Abijah Abijah ( ') is a Biblical HebrewPetrovsky, p. 35 unisex nameSuperanskaya, p. 277 which means "my Father is Yah". The Hebrew form ' also occurs in the Bible. Old Testament characters Women * Abijah, who married King Ahaz of Judah. She is ...

, king of Judah.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

and is divided into 22 verses in Christian Bibles, but 23 verses in the Hebrew Bible with the following verse numbering comparison: This article generally follows the common numbering in Christian English Bible versions, with notes to the numbering in Hebrew Bible versions.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

tradition, which includes the

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex () is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was endorsed for its accuracy by Maimonides. ...

(10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

known as the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century), and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Old Testament references

*: 2 Chronicles 13 Berean Study Bible
Biblehub

Abijah king of Judah (13:1–2)

The information about Abijah's reign over Judah contains no judgement (unlike the negative judgement in 1 Kings), which is otherwise only given to Jehoahaz (2 Chronicles 36:1–4), and a report of his (one and only) victory over Jeroboam (not recorded in 1 Kings), preceded by a sermon on the mount which portrays the basic relationship between the northern and southern kingdoms.

Verse 1

:''In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.'' * Parallel: 1 Kings 15:1 *"In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam": in Thiele's chronology, Thiele, Edwin R., ''

The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'' (1951) is a reconstruction of the chronology of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah by Edwin R. Thiele. The book was originally his doctoral dissertation and is widely regarded as the definitive work o ...

'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 0-8254-3825-X, 9780825438257 Abijah became king between April and September 913 BCE, at an unknown age. This is the only recorded synchronism with the northern kingdom in the Chronicles. *

: spelled as "Abijam" in 1 Kings 15:1 (following

; LXX has corresponding to "Abijahu").

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in 56 volumes by Cambridge University Press between 1878 and 1918. Many volumes went through multiple reprintings, while some volumes were also revised, usually by ...

2 Chronicles 13
Accessed 28 April 2019

Verse 2

:''He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.'' :''And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.'' * Parallel: 1 Kings 15:2 * "He reigned three years": In Thiele's chronology, Abijah started to reign between April and September 913 BCE, then died between September 911 and April 910 BCE, at an unknown age. * "Michaiah": spelled following

. In Greek

, Syriac dan Arabic versions, it is spelled as " Maachah" as in 1 Kings 15:2 (cf. ). states that Abijah was born of "Maachah the daughter of Absalom". The word "daughter" in Hebrew may also stand for "granddaughter".

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

notes that Maachah was the daughter of Tamar, the only daughter of Absalom (), so "Uriel of Gibeah" must have been the husband of Tamar. Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905)
''Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers''. 2 Chronicles 13.
London : Cassell and Company, Limited,

905-1906 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors)
On "2 Chronicles 13".
In: ''The

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible first published between 1880 and 1919

''. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.

War between Abijah and Jeroboam (13:3–22)

This section consists of preparations for war, a lengthy speech, and the description of an actual battle between the army of Abijah (kingdom of Judah) and that of Jeroboam (northern kingdom of Israel). Abijah's army (400,000 'valiant warriors ... picked men') was only half the size of Jeroboam's (800,000 'picked mighty warriors'—a number corresponding to 2 Samuel 24:9 and David's census), suggesting that on human terms, northern Israel should be victorious. Still, Abijah made a 'stylistically and rhetorically artistic speech' (verses 5–12), calling on the people of the northern kingdom to return to the legitimate rule of the David's line (YHWH's elect), the legitimate office of priesthood in Jerusalem, and the legitimate (and pure) worship in the temple of Jerusalem, from the idolatrous worship of Jeroboam with his own priests serving that of 'no gods' (, ''lo elohim''; cf. Hosea 8:6). The 'enumeration of Judean orthopraxis' by Abijah describes the Temple worship during the period of United Monarchy ( 1 Chronicles 15– 16; 23– 29;

2 Chronicles 2 2 Chronicles 2 is the second chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or gr ...

– 4) with reference to the tabernacle worship at the time of Moses (Exodus 25:30-40; 29:1-9, 38-42; 30:7-10; Leviticus 24:3-9; Numbers 8:2-4; 28:3-8). The battle had the elements of tactics by the Israelites, who prepared an ambush, and the holy warfare by the Judeans, for whom the Lord acted to strike down Jeroboam's troops, enabling the Judeans to kill 500,000 chosen men of Israel (verses 16–17).

Verse 4

:''Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:'' *"Mount Zemaraim": not mentioned elsewhere, presumably a mountain or hill near the borders of Benjamin and Ephraim, above the place called Zemaraim (Joshua 18:22) in Benjamin's territory, mentioned between the places called Beth ha-Arabah (in the Jordan valley) and Bethel. The mountains of Ephraim runs from the Plain of Esdraelon, through the midst of the area later called Samaria, to the territory of Judah.

Verse 22

:''And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.'' *"Story": from Hebrew: ''midrash'', a term that is repeated only once in the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles 24:27; cf. Sirach 51:23), can also be translated as "exposition, study, commentary".Note on 2 Chronicles 13:22 in NKJV 2 Chronicles 9:29 and 12:15 also refer to the prophet Iddo.

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

translations: *
Divrei Hayamim II - II Chronicles - Chapter 13 (Judaica Press)
in Hebrew and English translation ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org *

translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
2 Chronicles Chapter 13. Bible Gateway
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