2 Chronicles 25

1 Amaziah was fiue and twentie yere old when he began to reigne, and he reigned nine and twentie yeere in Ierusalem: and his mothers name was Iehoaddan, of Ierusalem.

Amaziah was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem.

2 And he did vprightly in the eyes of the Lord, but not with a perfite heart.

Amaziah did many things that pleased Yahweh, but he did not do them enthusiastically.

3 And when the kingdome was established vnto him, he slewe his seruants, that had slaine the King his father.

As soon as he was in complete control of his kingdom, he caused to be executed the officials who had murdered his father.

4 But he slewe not their children, but did as it is written in the Lawe, and in the booke of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not dye for the children, neyther shall the children die for the fathers, but euery man shall dye for his owne sinne.

But he did not command their sons to be executed; he obeyed what was in the laws that Moses had written. In those laws Yahweh had commanded, “People must not be executed because of [what] their children [have done], and children must not be executed for [what] their parents [have done]. People must be executed only for the sins that they themselves have committed.”

5 And Amaziah assembled Iudah, and made them captaines ouer thousandes, and captaines ouer hundreths, according to the houses of their fathers, thorowout all Iudah and Beniamin: and he nombred them from twentie yeere olde and aboue, and founde among them three hundreth thousand chosen men, to goe foorth to the warre, and to handle speare and shield.

Amaziah summoned the men of [the tribes of] Judah and Benjamin to come to Jerusalem, and there he put them in groups, each clan in a group by themselves. Then he appointed officers to command each group. Some officers commanded 100 men and some commanded 1,000 men. They counted the men who were at least 20 years old; altogether there were 300,000 men. They were all men who were prepared to be in the army, and able to [fight well, ] using spears and shields.

6 He hyred also an hundreth thousand valiant men out of Israel for an hundreth talents of siluer.

Amaziah also hired 100,000 capable soldiers from Israel and paid almost four tons of silver for them.

7 But a man of God came to him, saying, O King, let not the armie of Israel goe with thee: for the Lord is not with Israel, neither with all the house of Ephraim.

But a prophet came to him and said, “Your majesty, you must not allow those soldiers from Israel to march with your soldiers, because Yahweh does not help the people of the tribe of Ephraim or from [anywhere else in] Israel.

8 If not, goe thou on, doe it, make thy selfe strong to the battel, but God shall make thee fall before the enemie: for God hath power to helpe, and to cast downe.

Even if your soldiers go and fight courageously in battles, God will cause your enemies to defeat you; do not forget that God has the power to help armies or to cause them to be defeated.”

9 And Amaziah sayde to the man of God, What shall we doe then for the hundreth talents, which I haue giuen to the hoste of Israel? Then the man of God answered, The Lord is able to giue thee more then this.

Amaziah asked that prophet, “If I do that, what about the huge amount of silver that I paid to hire those soldiers from Israel?” The prophet replied, “Yahweh is able to pay you back more money than you paid [to hire those soldiers].”

10 So Amaziah separated them, to wit, the armie that was come to him out of Ephraim, to returne to their place: wherefore their wrath was kindled greatly against Iudah, and they returned to their places with great anger.

So Amaziah told those soldiers from Israel to return home. They left to go home, but they were very angry with the king of Judah [for not allowing them to stay and fight].

11 Then Amaziah was encouraged, and led forth his people, and went to the salt valley, and smote of the children of Seir, ten thousand.

Then Amaziah became brave, and he led his army to the Salt Valley. There they killed 10,000 men from the Edom people-group.

12 And other ten thousand did the children of Iudah take aliue, and caryed them to the top of a rocke, and cast them downe from the top of the rocke, and they all burst to pieces.

The army of Judah also captured 10,000 others, and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them all down over the cliff, with the result that their corpses were all smashed to pieces.

13 But the men of the armie, which Amaziah sent away, that they should not goe with his people to battell, fell vpon the cities of Iudah from Samaria vnto Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and tooke much spoyle.

While that was happening, the soldiers from Israel whom Amaziah had sent home after not allowing them to fight along with his soldiers, raided cities and towns in Judea, from Samaria [city] to Beth-Horon [town]. They killed 3,000 people and took away a great amount of valuable things.

14 Now after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them vp to be his gods, and worshipped them, and burned incense vnto them.

When Amaziah returned [to Jerusalem] after his army had slaughtered the soldiers from Edom, he brought the idols that were worshiped by the people of Edom. He set them up to be his own gods. Then he bowed down to [worship] them and offered sacrifices to them.

15 Wherefore the Lord was wroth with Amaziah, and sent vnto him a Prophet, which sayd vnto him, Why hast thou sought the gods of the people, which were not able to deliuer their owne people out of thine hand?

Because of that, Yahweh was very angry with Amaziah. He sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why do you worship these foreign gods that were not even able to save their own people when your army attacked them?”

16 And as he talked with him, he said vnto him, Haue they made thee the Kings counseler? cease thou: why should they smite thee? And the Prophet ceased, but said, I knowe that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not obeyed my counsell.

While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “We certainly did not appoint you to be one of my advisors. So stop [talking]! If you say anything more, [I will tell my soldiers to] kill you!” So the prophet said, “I know that God has determined to get rid of you, because you have [begun to] worship idols, and have not heeded my advice.” Then the prophet said nothing more.

17 Then Amaziah King of Iudah tooke counsell, and sent to Ioash the sonne of Iehoahaz, the sonne of Iehu King of Israel, saying, Come, let vs see one another in the face.

Some time later Amaziah, the king of Judah, consulted his advisors. Then he sent a message to Jehoash, the king of Israel. He wrote, “Come here and let’s talk together.”

18 But Ioash King of Israel sent to Amaziah King of Iudah, saying, The thistle that is in Lebanon, sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, Giue thy daughter to my sonne to wife: and the wilde beast that was in Lebanon went and trode downe the thistle.

But Jehoash replied to King Amaziah, “One time a thistle growing [in the mountains] in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar tree saying, ‘Let your daughter marry my son.’ But a wild animal in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle under its feet.

19 Thou thinkest: lo, thou hast smitten Edom, and thine heart lifteth thee vp to bragge: abide now at home: why doest thou prouoke to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, and Iudah with thee?

[The meaning of what I am saying is that] you are saying to yourself that your army has defeated the army of Edom, so you have become very proud. But you should stay at your home. It would not be good for you to cause trouble, which would result in you and your kingdom of Judah being destroyed.”

20 But Amaziah would not heare: for it was of God, that he might deliuer them into his had, because they had sought the gods of Edom.

But Amaziah refused to heed Jehoash’s message. That happened because God wanted Jehoash’s army to defeat them, because they were worshiping the gods of Edom.

21 So Ioash the King of Israel went vp: and he, and Amaziah King of Iudah saw one another in the face at Bethshemesh, which is in Iudah.

So Jehoash’s army attacked. Their two armies faced each other at Beth-Shemesh [city] in Judah.

22 And Iudah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled euery man to his tents.

The army of Judah was badly defeated by the army of Israel, and all the soldiers of Judah fled to their homes.

23 But Ioash the King of Israel tooke Amaziah King of Iudah, the sonne of Ioash, the sonne of Iehoahaz in Bethshemesh, and brought him to Ierusalem, and brake downe the wall of Ierusalem, from the gate of Ephraim vnto the corner gate, foure hundreth cubites.

King Jehoash’s army also captured King Amaziah there. Then he brought Amaziah to Jerusalem, and his soldiers tore down the wall [that was around the city], from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. That was a section that was about 600 feet long.

24 And he tooke all the gold and the siluer, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed Edom, and in the treasures of the Kings house, and the children that were in hostage, and returned to Samaria.

His soldiers also carried away the gold and silver and other valuable furnishings from the temple which the descendants of Obed-Edom had previously been guarding. They also took away the valuable things in the palace, and they took to Samaria some prisoners whom they had captured.

25 And Amaziah the sonne of Ioash King of Iudah liued after the death of Ioash sonne of Iehoahaz King of Israel, fifteene yeere.

King Jehoash of Israel died, and King Amaziah of Judah lived for 15 years after that.

26 Concerning the rest of the actes of Amaziah first and last, are they not written in the booke of the Kings of Iudah and Israel?

An account of all the other things that Amaziah did while he was the king [of Judah] is written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel’.

27 Nowe after the time that Amaziah did turne away from ye Lord, they wrought treason against him in Ierusalem: and when he was fled to Lachish, they sent to Lachish after him, and slewe him there.

From the time that Amaziah started to disobey Yahweh, some men in Jerusalem planned to kill him. He was able to escape to Lachish [city], but those who wanted to kill him sent another group of people to Lachish and killed him there.

28 And they brought him vpon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the citie of Iudah.

They put his corpse on a horse and brought it back to Jerusalem and buried it where his ancestors [had been buried] in the part of Jerusalem called ‘The City of David’.