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.

Amaziah [was] a son of twenty-five years [when] he has reigned, and he has reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jehoaddan of Jerusalem,

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

and he does that which is right in the eyes of YHWH—only, 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 comes to pass, when the kingdom has been strong on him, that he slays his servants, those striking his father the king,

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.”

and he has not put their sons to death, but [did] as is written in the Law, in the Scroll of Moses, whom YHWH commanded, saying, “Fathers do not die for sons, and sons do not die for fathers, but they each die 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 Amaziah gathers Judah and appoints them according to the house of the fathers, for heads of the thousands and for heads of the hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin; and he inspects them from a son of twenty years and upward, and finds them [to be] three hundred thousand chosen ones, going forth to the host, holding spear and buckler.

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

And he hires out of Israel one hundred thousand mighty men of valor, with one 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 a man of God has come to him, saying, “O king, the host of Israel does not go with you; for YHWH is not with Israel—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.”

but if you are going, do [it], be strong for battle, God causes you to stumble before an enemy, for there is power in God to help, and to cause to stumble.”

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 Amaziah says to the man of God, “But what to do about the hundred talents that I have given to the troop of Israel?” And the man of God says, “YHWH has more to give to you than this.”

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 Amaziah separates them, of the troop that has come to him from Ephraim, to go to their own place; and their anger burns mightily against Judah, and they return to their place in the heat of anger.

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 Amaziah has strengthened himself, and leads his people, and goes to the Valley of Salt, and strikes ten thousand of the sons of Seir.

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 sons of Judah have taken captive ten thousand alive, and they bring them to the top of the rock, and cast them from the top of the rock, and all of them have been broken.

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 sons of the troop that Amaziah has sent back from going with him to battle—they rush against cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-Horon, and strike three thousand of them, and seize much prey.

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 comes to pass after the coming in of Amaziah from striking the Edomites, that he brings in the gods of the sons of Seir, and establishes them for gods for himself, and bows himself before them, and he makes incense 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 YHWH burns against Amaziah, and He sends a prophet to him, and he says to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people that have not delivered their 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 comes to pass, in his speaking to him, that he says to him, “Have we appointed you for a counselor to the king? For you [must] cease; why do they strike you?” And the prophet ceases and says, “I have known that God has counseled to destroy you, because you have done this 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 Amaziah king of Judah takes counsel, and sends to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying,

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.

“Come, we look one another in the face.” And Joash king of Israel sends to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thorn that [is] in Lebanon has sent to the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife; and a beast of the field that [is] in Lebanon passes by and treads down the thorn.

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 Edom; and your heart has lifted you up to boast; now, abide in your house, why do you stir yourself up in evil, that you have fallen, you and Judah 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.

And Amaziah has not listened, for it [is] from God in order to give them into [their] hand, because they have sought the gods of Edom;

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

and Joash king of Israel goes up, and they look one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, in Beth-Shemesh, that [is] Judah’s,

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

and Judah is struck before Israel, and they flee—each to his tents.

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 Joash king of Israel has caught Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, in Beth-Shemesh, and brings him to Jerusalem, and breaks down in 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 [takes] all the gold, and the silver, and all the vessels that are found in the house of God with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the house of the king, and the sons of the pledges, and turns back to Samaria.

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

And Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lives after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, 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 matters of Amaziah, the first and the last, behold, are they not written on the scrolls of the kings of Judah 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 from the time that Amaziah has turned aside from after YHWH—they make a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he flees to Lachish, and they send after him to Lachish, and put him to death 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 lift him up on the horses, and bury him with his fathers in the city of Judah.