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.

Forsothe Amasie, `his sone, regnede for hym; Amasie was of fyue and twenti yeer, whanne he bigan to regne, and he regnyde nyne and twenti yeer in Jerusalem; the name of his modir was Joiaden, of Jerusalem.

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

And he dide good in the siyt of the Lord, netheles not in perfit herte.

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

And whanne he siy the empire strengthid to hym silf, he stranglide the seruauntis, that killiden the kyng, his fadir;

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.”

but he killide not the sones of hem; as it is writun in the book of the lawe of Moises, where the Lord comaundide, seiynge, Fadris schulen not be slayn for the sones, nether the sones for her fadris; but ech man schal die in his owne synne.

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.

Therfor Amasie gaderide togidere Juda, and ordeynede hem bi meynees and tribunes and centuriouns, in al Juda and Beniamyn; and he noumbride fro twenti yeer and aboue, and he foonde thritti thousynde of yonge men, that yeden out to batel, and helden spere and scheeld.

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

Also for mede he hiride of Israel an hundrid thousynde of stronge men, for an hundrid talentis of siluer, that thei schulden fiyte ayens the sones of Edom.

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.

Forsothe a man of God cam to hym, and seide, A! kyng, the oost of Israel go not out with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel and with alle the sones of Effraym;

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.”

for if thou gessist that batels stonden in the myyt of oost, the Lord schal make thee to be ouercomun of enemyes, for it is of God for to helpe, and to turne in to fliyt.

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].”

And Amasie seide to the man of God, What therfor schal be doon of the hundrid talentis, which Y yaf to the knyytis of Israel? And the man of God answeride to hym, The Lord hath, wherof he may yelde to thee myche mo thingis than these.

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].

Therfor Amasie departide the oost that cam to hym fro Effraym, that it schulde turne ayen in to his place; and thei weren wrooth greetli ayens Juda, and turneden ayen in to her cuntrei.

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.

Forsothe Amasie ledde out tristili his puple, and yede in to the valei of makyngis of salt, and he killide of the sones of Seir ten thousynde.

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.

And the sones of Juda token othere ten thousynde of men, and brouyten to the hiy scarre of summe stoon; and castiden hem doun fro the hiyeste in to the pit; whiche alle braken.

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.

And thilke oost whom Amasie hadde sent ayen, that it schulde not go with him to batel, was spred abrood in the citees of Juda fro Samarie `til to Betheron; and aftir `that it hadde slayn thre thousynde, it took awey a greet preie.

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.

And Amasie, after the sleyng of Idumeis, and after that he hadde brouyt the goddis of the sones of Seir, ordeynede hem `in to goddis to hym silf, and worschipide hem, and brente encense to hem.

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?”

Wherfor the Lord was wrooth ayens Amasie, and sente to hym a profete, that seide to hym, Whi worschipist thou goddis that `delyueriden not her puple fro thin hond?

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.

Whanne the profete spak these thingis, Amasie answeride to hym, Whether thou art a counselour of the king? ceesse thou, lest perauenture Y sle thee. Therfor the profete yede awei, and seide, Y woot, that the Lord thouyte to sle thee; for thou didist this yuel, and ferthermore thou assentidist not to my counsel.

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.”

Therfor Amasie, the king of Juda, whanne he hadde take a ful yuel counsel, sente to the kyng of Israel Joas, the sone of Joachaz, the sone of Hieu, and seide, Come thou, se we vs togidere.

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.

And he sente ayen messangeris, and seide, A `cardue, ether a tasil, which is in the Liban sente to the cedre of the Liban, and seide, Yyue thi douyter a wijf to my sone; and lo! beestis that weren in the wode of the Liban yeden and defouliden the cardue.

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.”

Thou seidist, Y haue smyte Edom, and therfor thin herte is reysid in to pride; sitte thou in thin hows; whi stirist thou yuel ayens thee, that thou falle, and Juda with thee?

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.

Amasie nolde here, for it was the wille of the Lord, that he schulde be bitakun in to the hondis of enemyes, for the goddis of Edom.

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

Therfor Joas, kyng of Israel, stiede, and thei siyen hem silf togidere. Sotheli Amasie, the kyng of Juda, was in Bethsames of Juda;

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

and Juda felde doun bifor Israel, and fledde in to his tabernaclis.

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.

Certis the kyng of Israel took in Bethsames Amasie, the kyng of Juda, the sone of Joas, sone of Joachaz, and brouyte in to Jerusalem; and he destriede the wallis therof fro the yate of Effraym `til to the yate of the corner, bi foure hundrid cubitis.

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.

And be ledde ayen in to Samarie al the gold and siluer, and alle vessels whiche he foond in the hows of the Lord, and at Obededom, in the tresouris also of the kyngis hows, also and the sones of ostagis.

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

Forsothe Amasie, kyng of Juda, the sone of Joas, lyuede fiftene yeer aftir that Joas, kyng of Israel, the sone of Joachaz, was deed.

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’.

Sotheli the residue of the formere and the laste wordis of Amasie ben writun in the book of kyngis of Juda and of 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.

And aftir that he yede awei fro the Lord, thei settiden to hym tresouns in Jerusalem; and whanne he hadde fledde to Lachis, thei senten and killiden hym 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’.

and thei brouyten ayen on horsis, and birieden hym with his fadris in the citee of Dauid.