2 Chronicles · 23 verses
2 Chronicles 11
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The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Rehoboam assembled 180,000 chosen warriors to restore his kingdom, and then, on a word delivered by Shemaiah, sent the entire army home without a battle. The chapter’s grand campaign ends with a turn in the road—and a rather well-stocked collection of fortified cities instead.
The army that went nowherevv. 1–4
Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, gathered Judah and Benjamin, and prepared to fight Israel. The LORD’s message, brought by Shemaiah, was wonderfully concise: these were brothers, and the whole affair was the LORD’s doing. So the 180,000 warriors turned back, leaving the proposed restoration of the kingdom rather impressively unattempted.
Walls, provisions, and a change of worshippersvv. 5–17
Rehoboam fortified Judah with a string of cities, including Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, and filled them with officers, food, oil, wine, shields, and spears. Meanwhile, the priests and Levites abandoned their pasturelands and possessions for Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them. Jeroboam’s replacement arrangements included priests for the high places, goat demons, and calf idols—a remarkably particular household of alternatives. Those who still set their hearts to seek the LORD followed the Levites to Jerusalem, and for three years the kingdom of Judah was strengthened.
A household with its own censusvv. 18–23
Rehoboam’s domestic arrangements receive almost military precision. Mahalath bore him Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham; Maacah, whom he loved more than the others, bore Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. The final tally is eighteen wives, sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons, and sixty daughters, after which Rehoboam appointed Abijah chief prince and distributed some of his sons through the fortified cities—with abundant provisions, and many wives sought for them too.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Chr 11:1When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
2 Chr 11:2But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God:
2 Chr 11:3“Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin
2 Chr 11:4that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’” So they listened to the words of the LORD and turned back from going against Jeroboam.
2 Chr 11:5Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah.
2 Chr 11:6He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
2 Chr 11:10Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
2 Chr 11:11He strengthened their fortifications and put officers in them, with supplies of food, oil, and wine.
2 Chr 11:12He also put shields and spears in all the cities and strengthened them greatly. So Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
2 Chr 11:13Moreover, the priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel stood with Rehoboam.
2 Chr 11:14For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.
2 Chr 11:15And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.
2 Chr 11:16Those from every tribe of Israel who had set their hearts to seek the LORD their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
2 Chr 11:17So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.
2 Chr 11:18And Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab.
2 Chr 11:19She bore sons to him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
2 Chr 11:20After her, he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
2 Chr 11:21Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
2 Chr 11:22Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, intending to make him king.
2 Chr 11:23Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives for them.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 155 passages were voted onto 21 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 211 Kings 11:3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
- 21Deuteronomy 17:17He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
- 21Judges 8:30Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
- 4Genesis 50:20As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
- 212 Samuel 5:13After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
- 212 Samuel 3:2–5And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;
- 22 Chronicles 12:15Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.
- 142 Chronicles 13:9But did you not drive out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? And did you not make priests for yourselves as do the peoples of other lands? Now whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of things that are not gods.
- 162 Chronicles 15:9And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, along with those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for great numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
- 172 Chronicles 12:1After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel with him forsook the Law of the LORD.
- 212 Chronicles 11:23Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives for them.
- 21Song of Songs 6:8–9There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,
- 22Deuteronomy 21:15–17If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,
- 7Joshua 15:35Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,
- 14Numbers 35:2–5“Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities.
- 151 Kings 12:28After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
Onward