2 Chronicles 25

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

² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.

³ As soon as the kingdom was firmly under his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king.

⁴ Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: 'Fathers shall not die for their children, nor children die for their fathers; each one shall die for his own sin.'

⁵ Amaziah assembled Judah and organized all Judah and Benjamin by families under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He mustered those twenty years old and above and found three hundred thousand choice men fit for war, able to handle spear and shield.

⁶ He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

⁷ But a man of God came to him and said, 'O king, these troops from Israel must not go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel — not with any of these Ephraimites.'

⁸ 'But if you do go — go ahead, act, be strong for the battle — God will make you fall before the enemy, for God has the power to help and the power to bring down.'

⁹ Amaziah asked the man of God, 'But what about the hundred talents I gave for these troops from Israel?' The man of God answered, 'The LORD is able to give you much more than that.'

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

¹¹ Amaziah then took courage and led his army out to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down ten thousand men of Seir.

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

¹³ Meanwhile the troops Amaziah had sent back, refusing to let them go with him into battle, raided the towns of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off a great quantity of plunder.

¹⁴ When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down before them, and burned offerings to them.

¹⁵ The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said, 'Why do you seek this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?'

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

¹⁷ After taking counsel, Amaziah king of Judah sent word to Joash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: 'Come, let us meet face to face.'

¹⁸ But Joash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: 'A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, "Give your daughter to my son in marriage." Then a wild animal in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.'

¹⁹ 'You say, "Look, I have defeated Edom," and your heart has grown proud and boastful. Now stay at home! Why provoke disaster, so that you fall — you, and Judah with you?'

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen, for this was from God, so that he might hand them over to their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom.

²¹ So Joash king of Israel marched out, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other in battle at Beth-shemesh in Judah.

²² Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his home.

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

²⁴ He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of God in the care of Obed-edom, together with the treasures of the king's palace and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.

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

²⁶ As for the other events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

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

²⁸ He was brought back on horses and was buried with his ancestors in the City of Judah.