2 Chronicles 25
1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan, from Jerusalem.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not with a whole heart.
3 When the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, he put to death the servants who had killed the king, his father.
4 But he did not put their children to death, as it is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents; each person shall die for their own sin.”
5 Amaziah gathered Judah and organized them by families under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and over, and found 300,000 chosen men fit for military service, able to handle spear and shield.
6 He also hired 100,000 valiant warriors from Israel for one hundred talents of silver.
7 But 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 any of the people of Ephraim.
8 But if you go, then go; be strong for battle. God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has power to help and to make you stumble.”
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I gave to the Israelite band?” The man of God replied, “The LORD can give you far more than that.”
10 Amaziah separated the band that had come to him from Ephraim and sent them back to their own place. They became very angry with Judah and returned home blazing with anger.
11 Amaziah took courage, led his people, and went to the Valley of Salt. There he struck down ten thousand of the people of Seir.
12 The people of Judah captured another ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of the cliff, and threw them down from there; they were all shattered.
13 But the men of the band whom Amaziah had sent back, so they would not go with him to war, raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon. They struck down three thousand people and carried off much plunder.
14 After Amaziah returned from striking down the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his own gods, bowed down before them, and burned incense to them.
15 The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why have you sought the gods of that people, who could not rescue their own people from your hand?”
16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you the king’s adviser? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” The prophet stopped, but said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
17 Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent a message to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us meet face to face.”
18 Joash king of Israel sent this reply to Amaziah king of Judah: “The thornbush in Lebanon sent word to the cedar in Lebanon: ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
19 You said, ‘Look, I have struck down Edom,’ and your heart has made you proud. Now stay at home. Why stir up trouble and bring about your own downfall, and Judah’s with you?”
20 But Amaziah would not listen, for this came from God, so that he might hand them over to the enemy, because they had sought the gods of Edom.
21 Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met face to face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
22 Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man fled to his tent.
23 Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem. He tore down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits.
24 He took all the gold and silver, all the utensils found in the house of God with Obed-edom, the treasures of the king’s house, and the hostages; then he 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 The rest of Amaziah’s acts, from first to last, 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. He fled to Lachish, and they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there.
28 They brought him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah.
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app