2 Chronicles 25

25 ¹ Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the eyes of our Father, but not wholeheartedly. ³ Once the kingdom was firmly in his control, he put to death the servants who had killed his father the king. ⁴ But he did not put their children to death; he acted according to what is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where our Father commanded, "Parents must not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents; each one is to die for his own sin."

⁵ Amaziah gathered Judah together and arranged them by their ancestral houses under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted all those twenty years old and older and found three hundred thousand choice men, fit for war, able to handle spear and shield. ⁶ He also hired a hundred thousand mighty warriors from Israel for about seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver. ⁷ But a man of our Father came to him and said, "Your Majesty, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for our Father is not with Israel — with all these Ephraimites." ⁸ Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, our Father will overthrow you before the enemy, for our Father has the power to help or to overthrow.

⁹ Amaziah said to the man of our Father, "But what about the roughly seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver I have given to the troops of Israel?" He answered, "Our Father is able to give you much more than this."

¹⁰ So Amaziah dismissed the troops that had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and went home in fierce anger.

¹¹ But Amaziah summoned his courage and led his people out. He went to the Valley of Salt and struck down ten thousand men of Seir. ¹² The men of Judah also captured ten thousand alive, took them to the top of the cliff, and threw them down from the top of the cliff, so that they were all dashed to pieces. ¹³ Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back, not letting them go with him to the battle, raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon. They struck down three thousand people in them and carried off much plunder.

¹⁴ After Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir and set them up as his own gods, bowing down before them and burning offerings to them. ¹⁵ So our Father's anger burned against Amaziah, and he sent him a prophet, who said to him, "Why have you sought after the gods of this people, gods that could not save their own people from your power?"

¹⁶ As he was still speaking, the king said to him, "Have we made you a counselor to the king? Stop! Do you want to be killed?" So the prophet stopped, but he said, "I know that our Father has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel."

¹⁷ Then Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers and sent word to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us meet in battle."

¹⁸ But Joash king of Israel sent back word to Amaziah king of Judah: "A thistle in Lebanon sent to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' But a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle." ¹⁹ You say, 'See, I have struck down Edom,' and your heart has grown proud and boastful. Now stay at home. Why provoke disaster so that you fall — you and Judah with you?

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen, for this was from our Father, so that he might hand them over, because they had sought the gods of Edom. ²¹ So Joash king of Israel marched up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²² Judah was defeated by Israel, and everyone fled to his own home.

²³ Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh. He brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, about six hundred feet. ²⁴ He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of our Father in the care of Obed-edom, along with the treasures of the king's palace and the hostages, and 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 Now the rest of the events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷ From the time that Amaziah turned away from following our Father, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. ²⁸ They brought him back on horseback and buried him with his ancestors in the City of Judah.