2 Chronicles 25

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

²And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart.

³And it happened, when the kingdom was strong in his hand, that he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father.

⁴But their sons he did not put to death, for as it is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying: 'Fathers shall not die because of their sons, and sons shall not die because of their fathers, but each person shall die for his own sin.'

⁵And Amaziah mustered the people of Judah and stationed them by fathers' houses under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds throughout all Judah and Benjamin. He numbered them from twenty years old and upward and found them to be three hundred thousand chosen men going out to war, holding spear and shield.

⁶He also hired one 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 the LORD is not with Israel — with all the sons of Ephraim.'

⁸But if you go — go, act boldly for battle — God will make you stumble before the enemy; for God has the power to help and to cause stumbling.

⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God, 'But what about the hundred talents I have given to the troop of Israel?' And the man of God answered, 'The Lord is able to give you much more than this.'

¹⁰So Amaziah dismissed the troop that had come to him from Ephraim to go back to their place; and they were greatly angered against Judah and returned home in fierce anger.

¹¹And Amaziah took courage and led his people, and went to the Valley of Salt and struck down ten thousand of the people of Seir.

¹²And ten thousand alive the sons of Judah captured, and brought them to the top of the crag and hurled them from the top of the crag, and all of them were dashed to pieces.

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

¹⁴And after Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped before them and burned incense to them.

¹⁵And the anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet who said to him, 'Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?'

¹⁶And as he spoke to him, the king said to him, 'Have we appointed you as a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?' So the prophet stopped and said, 'I know that God has decided to destroy you, for you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.'

¹⁷And Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, 'Come, let us face each other.'

¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, 'The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as a wife; but a wild animal of the field in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.'

¹⁹You have said, 'See, I have struck Edom,' and your heart has lifted you up to glory in this. Stay at home now; why should you stir up trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?

²⁰But Amaziah did not listen, for it was from God, so that he might hand them over, because they had sought the gods of Edom.

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

²²And Judah was struck down before Israel, and they fled, each man to his tent.

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

²⁴And all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the house of God in the care of Obed-edom, along with the treasuries of the royal palace and the hostages, he returned to Samaria.

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

²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, the former and the latter, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?

²⁷And from the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.

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