1 Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem and mustered the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand picked warriors, to make war on Israel and win back the kingdom for Rehoboam.
2 But the LORD's word came to Shemaiah the man of God:
3 "Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,
4 'This is what the LORD says: Do not go up and make war on your brothers. Go back, each of you, to your home, because this has come from me.'" They obeyed the words of the LORD and gave up their march against Jeroboam.
5 Rehoboam made his home in Jerusalem and built up cities in Judah as fortresses.
6 He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
7 Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,
8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,
9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortress cities in Judah and Benjamin.
11 He reinforced the strongholds, placed commanders in them, and stocked them with food, oil, and wine.
12 In each city he put shields and spears and made them extremely strong. Thus he held Judah and Benjamin.
13 The priests and Levites throughout Israel came over to him from every part of their territory.
14 The Levites abandoned their pasturelands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from serving as the LORD's priests,
15 and he installed his own priests for the high places, for the goat demons, and for the calves he had made.
16 Following them, people from every tribe of Israel who had resolved in their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers.
17 They gave strength to the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, for three years they followed the way of David and Solomon.
18 Rehoboam married Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth son of David, and Abihail the daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.
19 She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20 After her he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom above all his other wives and concubines; he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22 Rehoboam named Abijah son of Maacah as head, the leader among his brothers, since he meant to make him king.
23 He acted shrewdly and spread some of his sons through all the regions of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortress city; he supplied them with plenty of food, and he sought many wives for them.