2 Chronicles 25

1 A son of twenty and five years hath Amaziah reigned, and twenty and nine years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] 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 doth that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah — only, not with a perfect heart.

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

3 And it cometh to pass, when the kingdom hath been strong upon him, that he slayeth his servants, those smiting 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 and their sons he hath not put to death, but [did] as is written in the law, in the book of Moses, whom Jehovah commanded, saying, 'Fathers do not die for sons, and sons die not for fathers, but each for his own sin they 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 gathereth Judah, and appointeth 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 inspecteth them from a son of twenty years and upward, and findeth them three hundred thousand chosen ones, going forth to the host, holding spear and target.

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 hireth out of Israel a hundred thousand mighty ones of valour, with a hundred talents of silver;

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

7 and a man of God hath come in unto him, saying, 'O king, the host of Israel doth not go with thee; for Jehovah is not with Israel — all 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 [it], be strong for battle, God doth cause thee to stumble before an enemy, for there is power in God to help, and to cause to stumble.'

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 saith to the man of God, 'And what — to do for the hundred talents that I have given to the troop of Israel?' And the man of God saith, 'Jehovah hath more to give to thee 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 And Amaziah separateth them — for the troop that hath come in unto him from Ephraim to go to their own place, and their anger doth burn mightily against Judah, and they turn back to their place in the 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 hath strengthened himself, and leadeth his people, and goeth to the Valley of Salt, and smiteth 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 ten thousand alive have the sons of Judah taken captive, 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.

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

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 it cometh to pass, after the coming in of Amaziah from smiting the Edomites, that he bringeth in the gods of the sons of Seir, and establisheth them to him for gods, and before them doth bow himself, and to them he maketh 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 And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Amaziah, and He sendeth unto him a prophet, and he saith unto him, 'Why hast thou sought the gods of the people that have not delivered their 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 cometh to pass, in his speaking unto him, that he saith to him, 'For a counsellor to the king have we appointed thee? cease for thee; why do they smite thee?' And the prophet ceaseth, and saith, 'I have known that God hath counselled to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to 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 And Amaziah king of Judah taketh counsel, and sendeth unto Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying,

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 'Come, we look one another in the face.' And Joash king of Israel sendeth unto Amaziah king of Judah, saying, 'The thorn that [is] in Lebanon hath sent unto the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son for a wife; and pass by doth a beast of the field that [is] in Lebanon, and treadeth down the thorn.

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, I have smitten Edom; and thy heart hath lifted thee up to boast; now, abide in thy house, why dost thou stir thyself up in evil, that thou hast fallen, 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 And Amaziah hath not hearkened, for from God it [is] in order to give them into hand, because they have 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 and go up doth Joash king of Israel, and they look one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, in Beth-Shemesh, that [is] Judah's,

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

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

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, hath Joash king of Israel caught in Beth-Shemesh, and bringeth him in to Jerusalem, and breaketh down in the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the gate of the corner, 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 [taketh] 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 turneth back 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, liveth 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 and the rest of the matters of Amaziah, the first and the last, lo, are they not written on the books 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 from the time that Amaziah hath turned aside from after Jehovah — they make a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fleeth to Lachish, and they send after him to Lachish, and put him to death 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 lift him up on the horses, and bury 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’.