2 Chronicles 25

1 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.

Amasias began to reign when he was twenty and five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name [was] Joadaen of Jerusalem.

2 Amaziah did many things that pleased Yahweh, but he did not do them enthusiastically.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.

3 As soon as he was in complete control of his kingdom, he caused to be executed the officials who had murdered his father.

And it came to pass, when the kingdom was established in his hand, that he killed his servants who had slain the king his father.

4 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.”

But he killed not their sons, according to the covenant of the law of the Lord, as it is written, [and] as the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, and the sons shall not die for the fathers, but they shall die each for his own sin.

5 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.

And Amasias assembled the house of Juda, and appointed them according to the houses of their families for captains of thousands and captains of hundreds in all Juda and Jerusalem: and he numbered them from twenty years old and upwards, and found them three hundred thousand able to go out to war, holding spear and shield.

6 Amaziah also hired 100,000 capable soldiers from Israel and paid almost four tons of silver for them.

Also he hired of Israel a hundred thousand mighty [men for] a hundred talents of silver.

7 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.

And there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the host of Israel go with you; for the Lord is not with Israel, [even] all the sons of Ephraim.

8 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.”

For if you shall undertake to strengthen [yourself] with these, then the lord shall put you to flight before the enemies: for it is of the Lord both to strengthen and to put to flight.

9 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].”

And Amasias said to the man of God, But what shall I do [for] the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God said, The Lord can give you much more than these.

10 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].

And Amasias separated from the army that came to him from Ephraim, that they might go away to their place; and they were very angry with Juda, and they returned to their place with great wrath.

11 Then Amaziah became brave, and he led his army to the Salt Valley. There they killed 10,000 men from the Edom people-group.

And Amasias strengthened [himself], and took his people, and went to the valley of salt, and struck there the children of Seir ten thousand.

12 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.

And the children of Juda took ten thousand prisoners, and they carried them to the top of the precipice, and cast them headlong from the top of the precipice, and they were all dashed to pieces.

13 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.

And the men of the host whom Amasias sent back so that they should not go with him to battle, [went] and attacked the cities of Juda, from Samaria to Baethoron; and they struck three thousand among them, and took much spoil.

14 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.

And it came to pass, after Amasias had returned from striking Idumea, that he brought home the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up for himself as gods, and bowed down before them, and he sacrificed to them.

15 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?”

And the anger of the Lord came upon Amasias, and he sent him a prophet, and he said to him, Why have you sought the gods of the people, which have not rescued their own people out of your hand?

16 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.

And it came to pass when the prophet was speaking to him, that he said to him, have I made you king's counsellor? take heed lest you be scourged: and the prophet forebore, and said, I know that [God] is disposed against you to destroy you, because you have done this thing, and have not listened to my counsel.

17 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.”

And Amasias king of Juda took counsel, and sent to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of Jeu, king of Israel, saying, Come, and let us look one another in the face.

18 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.

And Joas king of Israel sent to Amasias king of Juda, saying, The thistle that was in Libanus sent to the cedar that was in Libanus, saying, Give your daughter to my son to wife; but, behold, your wild beasts of the field that are in Libanus shall come: and the wild beasts did come, and trod down the thistle.

19 [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.”

You have said, Behold, I have struck Idumea, and your stout heart exalts you: now stay at home; for why do you implicate yourself in mischief, that you should fall, and Juda with you.

20 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.

Nevertheless Amasias listened not, for it was of the Lord to deliver him into [the enemy's] hands, because he sought after the gods of the Idumeans.

21 So Jehoash’s army attacked. Their two armies faced each other at Beth-Shemesh [city] in Judah.

So Joas king of Israel went up; and they saw one another, he and Amasias king of Juda, in Baethsamys, which is of Juda.

22 The army of Judah was badly defeated by the army of Israel, and all the soldiers of Judah fled to their homes.

And Juda was put to flight before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.

23 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.

And Joas king of Israel took prisoner Amasias king of Juda, [son] of Joas, son of Joachaz, in Baethsamys, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he pulled down [part] of the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

24 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.

And [he took] all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and with Abdedom, and the treasures of the king's house, and the hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

25 King Jehoash of Israel died, and King Amaziah of Judah lived for 15 years after that.

And Amasias the [son] of Joas king of Juda lived after the death of Joas the [son] of Joachaz king of Israel fifteen years.

26 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’.

And the rest of the acts of Amasias, the first and the last, Behold! are they not written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel?

27 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.

And at the time when Amasias departed from the Lord, then they formed a conspiracy against him; and he fled from Jerusalem to Lachis: and they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there.

28 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’.

And they took him up on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of David.