Rehoboam fortified cities in Judah

5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and his workers built walls around several of the cities and towns in Judah to protect them against enemy attacks. 6 In the area that belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin they built walls around Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth-Zur, Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. 11 He also appointed an army commander in each of those cities and towns, and gave them supplies of food, olive oil, and wine to keep in storage. 12 He put shields and spears in all the cities and made them well-protected. So he continued to rule the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

13 The priests and other descendants of Levi throughout Israel supported Rehoboam. 14 The descendants of Levi who lived outside the territory of Judah and Benjamin abandoned their property and their pastureland, and they came to Jerusalem and to other places in Judah, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to do the work of priests of Yahweh. 15 Instead, Jeroboam appointed the priests that he wanted to work at the altars he commanded to be built on the hilltops, to offer sacrifices to the idols that he commanded to be made that resembled goats and calves. 16 And people from every tribe in Israel who wanted to worship Yahweh, the God to whom the Israelis belonged, went with the descendants of Levi to Jerusalem to live there and to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped. 17 They caused the kingdom of Judah to be strong, and for three years they were happy that Solomon’s son Rehoboam was the king. During that time they conducted their lives righteously as David and Solomon had done previously.