2 Chronicles 25
1 Twenty-five years old, was Amaziah, when he began to reign, and, twenty-nine years, reigned he in Jerusalem, —and, the name of his mother, was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem.
Amaziah was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem.
2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, —only not with a whole heart.
Amaziah did many things that pleased Yahweh, but he did not do them enthusiastically.
3 And it came to pass, when the kingdom was confirmed unto him, that he slew his servants who had smitten the king his father;
As soon as he was in complete control of his kingdom, he caused to be executed the officials who had murdered his father.
4 but, their sons, he put not to death, —but as it is written in the law—in the book of Moses—how that Yahweh commanded, saying-Fathers, shall not die for, sons, and Sons, shall not die, for, fathers, but Each man, for his own sin, shall die.
But he did not command their sons to be executed; he obeyed what was in the laws that Moses had written. In those laws Yahweh had commanded, “People must not be executed because of [what] their children [have done], and children must not be executed for [what] their parents [have done]. People must be executed only for the sins that they themselves have committed.”
5 And Amaziah gathered Judah together, and appointed them by their ancestral houses, as rulers of thousands and as rulers of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin, —and he numbered them, from twenty years old and upwards, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, who could grasp spear and shield.
Amaziah summoned the men of [the tribes of] Judah and Benjamin to come to Jerusalem, and there he put them in groups, each clan in a group by themselves. Then he appointed officers to command each group. Some officers commanded 100 men and some commanded 1,000 men. They counted the men who were at least 20 years old; altogether there were 300,000 men. They were all men who were prepared to be in the army, and able to [fight well, ] using spears and shields.
6 And he hired out of Israel, a hundred thousand heroes of valour, for a hundred talents of silver.
Amaziah also hired 100,000 capable soldiers from Israel and paid almost four tons of silver for them.
7 But, a man of God, came unto him, saying, O king! let not the host of Israel come with thee, —for Yahweh is not with Israel, [with] any of the sons of Ephraim.
But a prophet came to him and said, “Your majesty, you must not allow those soldiers from Israel to march with your soldiers, because Yahweh does not help the people of the tribe of Ephraim or from [anywhere else in] Israel.
8 But, if thou art going, do, be strong for the battle, —God will cause thee to fall before the enemy, for there is strength in God, to help or to cause to fall.
Even if your soldiers go and fight courageously in battles, God will cause your enemies to defeat you; do not forget that God has the power to help armies or to cause them to be defeated.”
9 And Amaziah said unto the man of God, What then shall be done as to the hundred talents, which I have given to the company of Israel? Then said the man of God, Yahweh is able to give thee much more than this.
Amaziah asked that prophet, “If I do that, what about the huge amount of silver that I paid to hire those soldiers from Israel?” The prophet replied, “Yahweh is able to pay you back more money than you paid [to hire those soldiers].”
10 So Amaziah separated them, [appointing] unto the company which had come unto him out of Ephraim, to depart unto their own place, —wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, so they returned to their own place, in a heat of anger.
So Amaziah told those soldiers from Israel to return home. They left to go home, but they were very angry with the king of Judah [for not allowing them to stay and fight].
11 And, Amaziah, took courage, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, —and smote of the sons of Seir, ten thousand;
Then Amaziah became brave, and he led his army to the Salt Valley. There they killed 10,000 men from the Edom people-group.
12 and the sons of Judah took captive, ten thousand alive, and brought to the top of the crag, —and cast them down from the top of the crag, and, all of them, were torn asunder.
The army of Judah also captured 10,000 others, and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them all down over the cliff, with the result that their corpses were all smashed to pieces.
13 But, as for the sons of the company which Amaziah sent back from going with him to the war, they spread themselves out against the cities of Judah, from Samaria, even unto Beth-horon, —and smote of them three thousand, and took great plunder.
While that was happening, the soldiers from Israel whom Amaziah had sent home after not allowing them to fight along with his soldiers, raided cities and towns in Judea, from Samaria [city] to Beth-Horon [town]. They killed 3,000 people and took away a great amount of valuable things.
14 And so it was, after Amaziah came in from smiting the Edomites, that he brought in the gods of the sons of Seir, and set them up for himself, as gods, —and, before them, used he to bow himself down, and, unto them, used he to burn a perfume.
When Amaziah returned [to Jerusalem] after his army had slaughtered the soldiers from Edom, he brought the idols that were worshiped by the people of Edom. He set them up to be his own gods. Then he bowed down to [worship] them and offered sacrifices to them.
15 Then was kindled the anger of Yahweh, against Amaziah, —and he sent unto him a prophet, and said unto him, Wherefore hast thou sought the gods of the people, which delivered not their own people out of thy hand?
Because of that, Yahweh was very angry with Amaziah. He sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why do you worship these foreign gods that were not even able to save their own people when your army attacked them?”
16 And it came to pass, as he spake unto him, that he said to him, To be, counselor to the king, have we appointed thee? forbear thou, wherefore should they smite thee? So the prophet forbare, and said—I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.
While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “We certainly did not appoint you to be one of my advisors. So stop [talking]! If you say anything more, [I will tell my soldiers to] kill you!” So the prophet said, “I know that God has determined to get rid of you, because you have [begun to] worship idols, and have not heeded my advice.” Then the prophet said nothing more.
17 Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel, and sent unto Joash, son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, —Come, let us look one another in the face!
Some time later Amaziah, the king of Judah, consulted his advisors. Then he sent a message to Jehoash, the king of Israel. He wrote, “Come here and let’s talk together.”
18 And Joash king of Israel sent unto Amaziah king of Judah, saying, A thistle that was in Lebanon, sent unto a cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Come! give thy daughter unto my son to wife, —but there passed by a beast of the field that was in Lebanon, and trampled down the thistle.
But Jehoash replied to King Amaziah, “One time a thistle growing [in the mountains] in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar tree saying, ‘Let your daughter marry my son.’ But a wild animal in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle under its feet.
19 Thou hast said-Lo! thou hast smitten the Edomites, and thy heart hath lifted thee up to display honour, -Now, abide in thine own house, wherefore shouldst thou engage in strife with Misfortune, and fall, thou and Judah with thee?
[The meaning of what I am saying is that] you are saying to yourself that your army has defeated the army of Edom, so you have become very proud. But you should stay at your home. It would not be good for you to cause trouble, which would result in you and your kingdom of Judah being destroyed.”
20 But Amaziah hearkened not, because, from God, it was, to the end he might deliver them up into [their enemies’] hand, —because they had sought the gods of Edom.
But Amaziah refused to heed Jehoash’s message. That happened because God wanted Jehoash’s army to defeat them, because they were worshiping the gods of Edom.
21 So Joash king of Israel came up, and they looked one another in the face, he, and Amaziah king of Judah, —in Beth-shemesh, which belongeth unto Judah.
So Jehoash’s army attacked. Their two armies faced each other at Beth-Shemesh [city] in Judah.
22 Then was Judah defeated, before Israel, —and they fled every man to his own home;
The army of Judah was badly defeated by the army of Israel, and all the soldiers of Judah fled to their homes.
23 and, Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash son of Jehoahaz, was taken by Joash king of Israel, in Beth-shemesh, —and he brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim as far as the corner-gate, four hundred cubits;
King Jehoash’s army also captured King Amaziah there. Then he brought Amaziah to Jerusalem, and his soldiers tore down the wall [that was around the city], from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. That was a section that was about 600 feet long.
24 and, all the gold and the silver and all the utensils that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the house of the king, and hostages, he took, -and returned to Samaria.
His soldiers also carried away the gold and silver and other valuable furnishings from the temple which the descendants of Obed-Edom had previously been guarding. They also took away the valuable things in the palace, and they took to Samaria some prisoners whom they had captured.
25 And Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived, after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, —fifteen years.
King Jehoash of Israel died, and King Amaziah of Judah lived for 15 years after that.
26 Now, the rest of the story of Amaziah, first and last, lo! it is written in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
An account of all the other things that Amaziah did while he was the king [of Judah] is written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel’.
27 And, after the time that Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh, they made against him a conspiracy in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish, —but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.
From the time that Amaziah started to disobey Yahweh, some men in Jerusalem planned to kill him. He was able to escape to Lachish [city], but those who wanted to kill him sent another group of people to Lachish and killed him there.
28 And they brought him on horses, -and buried him with his fathers, in the city of Judah.
They put his corpse on a horse and brought it back to Jerusalem and buried it where his ancestors [had been buried] in the part of Jerusalem called ‘The City of David’.
