2 Chronicles 25

Amaziah Hires an Army

1Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan, from Jerusalem. 2He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, but not with a whole heart. 3Once the kingdom was firmly in his hands, he executed the servants who had struck down the king his father. 4But he did not put their sons to death, for he acted according to what is written in the law, in the book of Moses, where Yahweh commanded: “Fathers are not to die for sons, nor sons for fathers; each is to die for his own sin.” 5Amaziah gathered Judah and drew them up by ancestral houses, under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin. He registered them from twenty years old and upward, and found three hundred thousand picked men, fit for service, able to handle spear and shield. 6He also hired a hundred thousand seasoned fighters from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. 7But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, do not let the army of Israel march with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel — not with any of the Ephraimites. 8Even if you go and act and are strong for battle, God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help and the power to make men stumble.” 9Amaziah said to the man of God, “And what about the hundred talents I gave to the troops of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh has far more than that to give you.” 10So Amaziah detached the troops that had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah, and they went back home burning with anger. 11Amaziah took courage, led his people out, and marched to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down ten thousand of the men of Seir. 12The men of Judah also took ten thousand alive; they brought them to the top of the crag and threw them down from the top of the crag, and every one of them was broken apart. 13Meanwhile the men of the troop that Amaziah had sent back from marching with him to battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria as far as Beth-horon; they struck down three thousand of them and carried off a great deal of plunder.

The Gods of Seir

14When Amaziah came back from defeating the Edomites, he brought with him the gods of the men of Seir. He set them up as gods of his own, bowed down before them and burned incense to them. 15The anger of Yahweh blazed against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why have you sought out the gods of a people who could not rescue their own people from your hand?” 16He was still speaking when the king said to him, “Have we appointed you counsellor to the king? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” The prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

Face to Face at Beth-shemesh

17Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent word to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us look each other in the face.” 18Joash king of Israel sent back to Amaziah king of Judah: “The thistle 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 thistle. 19You say to yourself: Look, I have struck Edom down — and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Stay at home now. Why provoke disaster and fall, you and Judah with you?” 20But Amaziah would not listen, for this came from God, so that they might be handed over, because they had sought out the gods of Edom. 21So Joash king of Israel marched up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked each other in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his tent. 23Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, was captured at Beth-shemesh by Joash king of Israel, who brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate — four hundred cubits. 24He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the house of God with Obed-edom, together with the treasures of the king’s house and hostages besides, and he returned to Samaria. 25Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26The rest of Amaziah’s acts, from first to last — are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27From the time Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28They carried him back on the horses and buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah.