9. Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
10. Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
11. He strengthened them and put army officers with reserves of food, olive oil, and wine in them.
12. In each city he stored shields and spears. He made the cities very secure. So Rehoboam held on to Judah and Benjamin.
13. The priests and Levites in every region of Israel sided with Rehoboam.
14. The priests abandoned their land and property and went to Judah and Jerusalem because Jer o boam and his descendants rejected them as the Lord’s priests.
15. Instead, Jer o boam appointed ⌊his own⌋ priests for the illegal worship sites and the goat and calf statues he had made as idols.
16. People from every tribe of Israel who were determined to seek the Lord God of Israel followed the Levitical priests to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors.
17. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah by supporting Rehoboam, son of Solomon, for three years. During ⌊those⌋ three years they lived the way David and Solomon had lived.
18. Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth. (Jerimoth was the son of David and Abihail. Abihail was the daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse.)