12. He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceedingly strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
13. The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him out of all their territory.
14. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office to Yahweh.
15. He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.
16. After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, those who set their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
17. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.
18. Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse.
19. She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20. After her, he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21. Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22. Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers; for he intended to make him king.
23. He dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city. He gave them food in abundance and he sought many wives for them.