2 Chronicles 25

1 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.

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

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

He did what was right in the Lord's sight but not with complete commitment.

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

After he had made sure his rule was secure, he executed the officers who had murdered his father the king.

4 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.”

However, he did not kill their sons, as is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded: “Fathers must not be executed for their children, and children must not be executed for their fathers. Everyone is to die for their own sin.”

5 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.

Then Amaziah called up the people of Judah for military service, and assigned them by families to commanders of thousands and of hundreds. He also took a census of those twenty years of age and older throughout Judah and Benjamin, and found there was 300,000 first-rate fighting men who could use spear and shield.

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

He also hired 100,000 battle-ready fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

7 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.

But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, don't let this army of Israel join you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with these sons of Ephraim!

8 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.”

Even if you fight bravely, God will let you stumble and fall before the enemy, for God has the power to help you or let you fall.”

9 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].”

Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents of silver I paid the army of Israel?” “The Lord can give you much more than that!” replied the man of God.

10 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].

So Amaziah dismissed the army he'd hired from Ephraim and sent them home. They became very angry with Judah, and returned home furious.

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

Amaziah then bravely led his army to the Valley of Salt, where they attacked the Edomite army from Seir, and killed ten thousand of them.

12 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.

The army of Judah also captured another ten thousand, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them off, killing them all.

13 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.

But the men of the army Amaziah sent home, refusing to let them go with him to battle, raided the towns of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon They killed 3,000 of their inhabitants and took a great deal of plunder.

14 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.

When Amaziah returned from killing the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir and set them up as his own gods, worshiped them, and offered sacrifices to them.

15 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?”

The Lord became angry with Amaziah and he sent a prophet to him, who said to him, “Why would you worship the gods of a people who couldn't even save their own people from you?”

16 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.

But while he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a counselor to the king? Stop right now! Do you want to be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you, because you have acted like this and have refused to listen to my advice.”

17 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.”

Then Amaziah, king of Judah, took advice from his counselors and sent a message to the king of Israel, Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu. “Come and face me in battle,” he challenged.

18 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.

Joash, king of Israel, replied to Amaziah, king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent a message to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.

19 [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.”

You're telling yourself how great you are for defeating Edom, boasting about it. But just stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble that will bring you down, and Judah with you?”

20 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.

But Amaziah didn't listen, for God was going to hand him over to his enemies because he had chosen to worship the gods of Edom.

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

So Joash king of Israel prepared for battle. He and Amaziah, king of Judah, faced one another at Beth-shemesh in Judah.

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

Judah was defeated by Israel—they all ran away home.

23 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.

Joash, king of Israel, captured Amaziah, king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. He took him to Jerusalem, and demolished the wall of Jerusalem for 400 cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.

24 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.

He carried away all the gold and silver, and all the articles found in God's Temple that had been looked after by Obed-edom and in the treasuries of the king's palace, as well as some hostages, and then returned to Samaria.

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

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

26 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’.

The rest of what Amaziah did, from beginning to end, is written down in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

27 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.

After Amaziah gave up following the Lord, a plot was hatched against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But the plotters sent men to Lachish to hunt him down, and they killed him there.

28 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’.

They brought him back by horse and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.