2Ch 25 | EE | STEP | Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan and she was from Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 25

Amaziah becomes king

1 Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan and she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did the things that gave pleasure to the LORD. But he did not always really want to do those things.

He kills the men who killed his father

3 He made himself safe and strong as the ruler of the country. Then he killed all his servants who had killed the king, his father. 4 But he did not kill their children. He did as Moses had written in the Law. The LORD had said to Moses, ‘You must not kill men because of what their children have done. And you must not kill people because of what their fathers have done. Each person must die because of his own sins only.’

Amaziah’s army

5 Then Amaziah brought all the people in Judah together. He chose leaders for their clans. Some were leaders of 1000 men and some were leaders of 100 men from Judah or from Benjamin. He counted 300,000 men who were 20 years old or older. They could fight with spear and shield. 6 And he paid 3500 kilos (7800 pounds) of silver for 100,000 very brave soldiers from Israel to fight for him.

The king sends back the soldiers from Israel

7 But a prophet came to the king and he said, ‘You king, do not let these soldiers from Israel go with you because the LORD is not with Israel. He is not with any of those relatives of Ephraim. 8 With them, you may be strong and you may fight well in the war. But God will use the enemy to beat you. God can help you. And he can cause your enemies to beat you.’

9 Amaziah said to God’s servant, ‘But I have paid 3500 kilos (7800 pounds weight) of silver for the army from Israel. What should I do about that?’ God’s servant replied, ‘The LORD can give you more money than that! He can give you a lot of money!’

10 So Ahaziah spoke to the soldiers who were relatives of Ephraim. He told them that he did not need them. He sent them away to their homes. They were very angry with Judah. They returned to where they had come from with very angry thoughts in their minds.

Amaziah fights men from Seir

11 But Amaziah became brave and he led all his soldiers to the Valley of Salt. There they fought and they killed 10,000 men from Seir. 12 His army also caught 10,000 more men alive. They took them to the top of a tall rock and they threw them from the top of the rock. So, all the men died when they hit the rocks below. ^{▼▼25:12 Seir or Edom was South of the Dead Sea and to the east.}

Israelite soldiers attack towns in Judah

13 But the soldiers that Amaziah had sent away were attacking towns in Judah from Samaria to Beth-Horon. He had not let them go to war with his army. They killed 3000 men and they took away many valuable things from those towns.

Amaziah worships idols

14 Amaziah returned to Judah after he had killed all those soldiers from Seir. But he brought the gods that the people in Seir worshipped with him. He put them up as his own gods and he worshipped them. And he burned oils with sweet smells in front of them. 15 So the LORD was very angry with Amaziah and he sent a prophet to him. The prophet said to him, ‘You are silly to ask these gods for help! They could not save their own people from you!’

Amaziah will not listen to God’s prophet

16 While he was speaking, the king said to him, ‘We have not asked you to tell the king what he should do! Stop! If you do not stop, my men will kill you.’ So the prophet stopped. But he said, ‘I know this: God has decided to kill you because you have done this. And you have not listened to my words.’

Amaziah attacks Israel

17 Then Judah’s King Amaziah and his most important officers spoke together. Then they sent a message to the king of Israel. He was Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, who was the son of Jehu. ‘Come and we can fight each other’, the message said.

18 But Israel’s King Joash replied to Amaziah the king of Judah, ‘A small weed in Lebanon sent a message to a great cedar tree in Lebanon. The message said, “Let your daughter marry my son.” Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon came. And it walked on the weed and it destroyed it. 19 You say to yourself that you have won the fight with Edom. And now you think that you are great. But stay in your house! You do not want to cause trouble for yourself. If you fight us, we will beat you and Judah.’

God lets Israel win the fight to punish Amaziah

20 But Amaziah refused to listen. God had decided that he would cause Joash’s army to win the fight. That was because Amaziah had worshipped Edom’s gods. 21 So Joash, Israel’s king attacked Amaziah, the king of Judah. They stood at Beth-Shemesh in Judah. And they were looking at each other. 22 Israel’s army beat Judah’s army completely. So every soldier from Judah ran away to his tent. 23 Joash, the king of Israel caught Amaziah the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the king of Judah. He caught him at Beth-Shemesh and he took him to Jerusalem. Then Joash broke the wall of Jerusalem, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was about 180 metres (600 feet) long. 24 He took all the gold and the silver from the house of God. And he took all the other things that Obed-Edom was keeping in God’s house. Joash also took the valuable things from the king’s house and some foreign men that Amaziah had kept there. Then he returned to Samaria. ^{▼▼25:24 Verse 23 Jehoahaz is another name for Ahaziah.}

The end of Amaziah’s life

25 Joash’s son, King Amaziah of Judah lived for 15 years after Jehoahaz’s son Joash, king of Israel died. 26 Men have written down all the other things that Amaziah did from the first thing to the last thing. All those things are in the Book about the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 After Amaziah had stopped obeying the LORD, men in Jerusalem agreed to kill him. So he ran away to Lachish. But they went after him to Lachish and they killed him there. 28 They brought his dead body to Jerusalem on horses. And they buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah. ^{▼▼25:28 Jehoash, the king of Israel died in about 782 BC. Then the son of Jehoash, Jeroboam II ruled Israel in Samaria. He was the king there for the rest of Amaziah’s rule. Amaziah died in about 767 BC.}