2 Chronicles 25

1Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

2He did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, but not with a whole heart.

3As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his control, he killed his servants who had struck down his father the king.

4But he did not put their sons to death. He acted as it is written in the law, in the book of Moses, where Yahweh commanded, “Parents must not die for their children, and children must not die for their parents. Each person must die for his own sin.”

5Amaziah assembled the people of Judah and organized them by ancestral houses under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men fit for war, able to handle spear and shield.

6He also hired a hundred thousand mighty warriors from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

7But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, with any of the people of Ephraim.

8Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will make you fall before the enemy, for God has the power to help and to make fall.”

9Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I have given to the troops of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh is able to give you much more than this.”

10So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and went home in a burning rage.

11Then Amaziah took courage and led out his people. He went to the Valley of Salt and struck down ten thousand men of Seir.

12The men of Judah also captured ten thousand alive. They took them to the top of the cliff and threw them down from the top of the cliff, and all of them were dashed to pieces.

13Meanwhile the troops whom Amaziah had sent back without letting them go with him to battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon. They struck down three thousand people in them and took a great deal of plunder.

14After Amaziah came back from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir and set them up as his own gods. He bowed down before them and burned incense to them.

15So Yahweh’s anger burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of this people, who could not rescue their own people from your hand?”

16While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you the king’s adviser? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my advice.”

17Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice and sent word to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us meet face to face.”

18Joash king of Israel sent back word to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent word to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as his wife.’ Then a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.

19You say, ‘See, I have struck down Edom,’ and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Now stay at home. Why stir up trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

20But Amaziah would not listen, for this was from God, in order to hand them over to their enemy, because they had sought the gods of Edom.

21So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met face to face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

22Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home.

23Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a stretch of four hundred cubits.

24He took all the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in the house of God in the care of Obed-edom, the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

25Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.

26The rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

27From the time that Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh, people formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there.

28They carried him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah.