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, from Jerusalem.

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

3When the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father.

4But he did not put their sons to death, because it is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where Yahweh commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, and sons shall not be put to death for fathers, but each man shall die for his own sin.”

5Then Amaziah gathered Judah and appointed them by fathers’ houses under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, going out to war, able to handle spear and shield.

6And he hired from Israel one hundred thousand mighty men of valor for one hundred talents of silver.

7But a man of God came to him, saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, with all the sons of Ephraim.”

8But if you do go, act resolutely in battle; God will make you stumble before the enemy, for there is power in God to help and to make stumble.

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

10So Amaziah separated them, the troops that had come to him from Ephraim, to go to their place. And they became very angry with Judah and returned to their place in fierce anger.

11Then Amaziah strengthened himself, led his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down ten thousand of the sons of Seir.

12And the sons of Judah captured ten thousand alive, brought 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.

13But the men of the troop whom Amaziah had sent back from going with him to battle raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down three thousand of them and took much plunder.

14It happened, after Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the sons of Seir and set them up for himself as gods; and before them he bowed down, and to them he burned incense.

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

16And it happened, as he was speaking to him, that the king said to him, “Have we made you the king’s adviser? Stop! Why should they strike you down?” So the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

17Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another.”

18Then Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thornbush that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild beast of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.”

19You said, ‘Look, you have struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up to boast.’ Now stay at home. Why should you provoke disaster, so that you fall—you and Judah with you?

20But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from God, in order to give them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom.

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

22And Judah was defeated before Israel, and each man fled to his tent.

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

24And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and 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, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.

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