2 Chronicles 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated 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 writings by the Israelites. The ...

in the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

or of the second part of the

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) 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 sect ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingdom of Judah until its destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar and the beginning of restoration under

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

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 a ...

, king of Judah.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

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 (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') 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 ...

(10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

, 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), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century), and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(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 on ...

'', (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 The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

has corresponding to "Abijahu").

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologian ...

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 Maacah (or Maakah; he, ''Maʿăḵā'', "crushed"; Maacha in the Codex Alexandrinus, Maachah in the KJV) is a non-gender-specific personal name used in the Bible to refer to a number of people. *A child of Abraham's brother Nachor, evidently a ...

" 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 (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

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 Arabic digit In the Brahmi numerals, beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshat ...

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 created during the nineteenth century under the direction of Rev. Joseph S. Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones. It consists of 23 volumes with 22,000 pages and 95,000 entrie ...

''. 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 1 Chronicles 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designa ...

– 16; 23– 29;

2 Chronicles 2 2 Chronicles 2 is the second Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compil ...

– 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

* * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Divrei Hayamim II - II Chronicles - Chapter 13 (Judaica Press)
in Hebrew and English translation ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *_Christian_ Christians_()_are_people_who_follow_or_adhere_to_Christianity,_a__monotheistic__Abrahamic_religion_based_on_the_life_and_teachings_of_Jesus_Christ._The_words_''Christ''_and_''Christian''_derive_from_the_Koine_Greek_title_''Christós''_(Χρι_...