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 twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem.

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

He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, but not with a whole 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.

It came about that as soon as his rule was well established, he killed the servants who had murdered 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.”

But he did not put the children of the murderers to death, but acted according to what was written in the law, in the Book of Moses, as Yahweh had commanded, “The fathers must not die for the children, nor must the children die for the fathers. Instead, every person must 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.

Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, and registered them by their ancestors' houses, under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—all of Judah and Benjamin. He numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them to be 300,000 chosen men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield.

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

He hired also 100,000 fighting men from Israel for 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.

But a man of God came to him and said, “King, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel—none of the people 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 even if you do go and are courageous and strong in battle, God will throw you down before the enemy, for God has power to help, and power to throw down.”

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].”

Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what will we do about the one hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh is able to give you much more than that.”

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].

So Amaziah separated the army that had come to him from Ephraim; he sent them home again. So their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce 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.

Amaziah took courage and led his people to go out to the Valley of Salt; there he defeated ten thousand men 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.

The army of Judah carried away alive another ten thousand. They took them to the top of the cliff and threw them down from there, so that they were all broken in 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.

But the men of the army which Amaziah sent back, so that they should not go with him to battle, attacked the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They struck down three thousand of the people and took much plunder.

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.

Now it came about, after that Amaziah had returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the people of Seir, and set them up to be his own gods. He bowed down before them and burned 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?”

So Yahweh's anger was kindled against Amaziah. He sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why have you sought after the gods of a people who did not even save their own people from 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.

It came about that as the prophet was speaking with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you an advisor to the king? Stop! Why should you be killed?” Then the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done this deed and have not listened to my advice.”

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.”

Then Amaziah king of Judah consulted with advisors and sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us meet each other face to face in battle.”

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.

But Jehoash the king of Israel sent messengers back to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “A thistle that was in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife,' but a wild beast in Lebanon walked by and trampled 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, 'See, I have struck down Edom,' and your heart has lifted you up. Take pride in your victory, but stay at home, for why should you cause yourself trouble and fall, both 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.

But Amaziah would not listen, because this event was from God, so he might put the people of Judah into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought advice from the gods of Edom.

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

So Jehoash, king of Israel, attacked; he and Amaziah, king of Judah, met each other face to face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

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

Judah was struck down before Israel, and every man fled home.

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.

Jehoash, king of Israel, captured Amaziah son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, at Beth Shemesh. He brought him to Jerusalem and tore down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits in distance.

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.

He took all the gold and silver, all the objects that were found in the house of God with Obed Edom, and the valuable things in the king's house, with hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

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

Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.

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’.

As for the other matters concerning Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book 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.

Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh, they began to make a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish 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’.

They brought him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah.