2 Chronicles 25
25
King Amaziah of Judah
(2 Kings 14.1-6)
1Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years from Jerusalem, the home town of his mother Jehoaddin.#25.1 Jehoaddin: The Hebrew text has “Jehoaddan”, another spelling of the name.
2Even though Amaziah obeyed the LORD by doing right, he refused to be completely faithful. 3For example, as soon as he had control of Judah, he arrested and killed the officers who had murdered his father. 4But the children of those officers were not killed; the LORD had commanded in the Law of Moses that only the people who sinned were to be punished.#25.4 the LORD had commanded…punished: See Deuteronomy 24.16.#Dt 24.16.
Edom is defeated
(2 Kings 14.7)
5Amaziah sent a message to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and called together all the men who were twenty years old and older. Three hundred thousand men went to Jerusalem, all of them ready for battle and able to fight with spears and shields. Amaziah grouped these soldiers according to their clans and put them under the command of his army officers. 6Amaziah also paid about three thousand four hundred kilogrammes of silver to hire one hundred thousand soldiers from Israel.
7One of God's prophets said, “Your Majesty, don't let these Israelite soldiers march into battle with you. The LORD has refused to help anyone from the northern kingdom of Israel, 8and so he will let your enemies defeat you, even if you fight hard. He is the one who brings both victory and defeat.”
9Amaziah replied, “What am I supposed to do about all the silver I paid those troops?”
“The LORD will give you back even more than you paid,” the prophet answered.
10Amaziah ordered the troops from Israel to go home, but when they left, they were furious with the people of Judah.
11After Amaziah got his courage back, he led his troops to Salt Valley, where he killed ten thousand Edomite soldiers in battle. 12He captured ten thousand more soldiers and dragged them to the top of a high cliff. Then he pushed them over the side, and they were all killed on the rocks below.
13Meanwhile, the Israelite troops that Amaziah had sent home, raided the towns in Judah between Samaria and Beth-Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off their possessions.
14After Amaziah had defeated the Edomite army, he returned to Jerusalem. He took with him the idols of the Edomite gods and set them up. Then he bowed down and offered them sacrifices. 15This made the LORD very angry, and he sent a prophet to ask Amaziah, “Why would you worship these foreign gods that couldn't even save their own people from your attack?”
16But before the prophet finished speaking, Amaziah interrupted and said, “You're not one of my advisers! Don't say another word, or I'll have you killed.”
The prophet stopped. But then he added, “First you sinned and now you've ignored my warning. It's clear that God has decided to punish you!”
Israel defeats Judah
(2 Kings 14.8-14)
17King Amaziah of Judah talked with his officials, then sent a message to King Jehoash#25.17 King Jehoash: The Hebrew text has “King Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu”; Jehoash is another spelling for the name Joash. of Israel: “Come out and face me in battle!”
18Jehoash sent back a reply that said:
Once upon a time, a small thorn bush in Lebanon arranged the marriage between his son and the daughter of a large cedar tree. But a wild animal came along and trampled the small bush.
19Amaziah, you think you're so powerful because you defeated Edom. But stay at home and do your celebrating. If you cause any trouble, both you and your kingdom of Judah will be destroyed.
20God made Amaziah stubborn because he was planning to punish him for worshipping the Edomite gods. Amaziah refused to listen to Jehoash's warning, 21so Jehoash led his army to the town of Beth-Shemesh in Judah to attack Amaziah and his troops. 22During the battle, Judah's army was crushed. Every soldier from Judah ran back home, 23and Jehoash captured Amaziah.
Jehoash took Amaziah with him when he went to attack Jerusalem. Jehoash broke down the city wall from Ephraim Gate to Corner Gate, a section nearly two hundred metres long. 24He carried away the gold, the silver, and all the valuable furnishings from God's temple where the descendants of Obed-Edom stood guard. He robbed the king's treasury, took hostages, then returned to Samaria.
Amaziah is killed
(2 Kings 14.15-20)
25Amaziah lived fifteen years after Jehoash died. 26Everything else Amaziah did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
27As soon as Amaziah started disobeying the LORD, some people in Jerusalem plotted against Amaziah. He was able to escape to the town of Lachish, but another group of people caught him and killed him there. 28His body was taken to Jerusalem on horseback and buried beside his ancestors.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
2 Chronicles 25
25
Amaziah Reigns in Judah
1 # For ver. 1-4, see 2 Kgs. 14:1-6 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, #[ver. 14]yet not with a whole heart. 3And as soon as the royal power was firmly his, he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father. 4But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, #Deut. 24:16; [Jer. 31:30; Ezek. 18:20]“Fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.”
Amaziah’s Victories
5Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by fathers’ houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those #Num. 1:3 twenty years old and upward, and found that they were #[ch. 11:1; 13:3; 17:14-18; 26:13] 300,000 choice men, fit for war, #1 Chr. 12:8able to handle spear and shield. 6He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for 100 talents#25:6 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms of silver. 7But #Deut. 33:1a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. 8But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? #[ch. 20:6]For God has power to help or to cast down.” 9And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” 10Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again. And they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger. 11But Amaziah took courage and led out his people and went to the #2 Kgs. 14:7 Valley of Salt and struck down #ch. 20:1010,000 men of Seir. 12The men of Judah captured another 10,000 alive and took them to the top of a rock and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces. 13But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, not letting them go with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah, #[ch. 15:8; 19:4]from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down 3,000 people in them and took much spoil.
Amaziah’s Idolatry
14After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, #[ch. 28:23] he brought the gods #[See ver. 11 above]of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them. 15Therefore the Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of a people #[ver. 11]who did not deliver their own people from your hand?” 16But as he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but said, “I know that #[Josh. 11:20]God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
Israel Defeats Amaziah
17 # For ver. 17-24, see 2 Kgs. 14:8-14 Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” 18And Joash the king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, #[Judg. 9:8]“A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 19You say, ‘See, I#25:19 Hebrew you have struck down Edom,’ and #See ch. 26:16your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. But now stay at home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
20But Amaziah would not listen, for it was of God, in order that he might give them into the hand of their enemies, #ver. 14, 15because they had sought the gods of Edom. 21So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, son of #ch. 21:17 Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for 400 cubits,#25:23 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters from #Neh. 8:16the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 24And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God, in the care of #1 Chr. 26:15Obed-edom. He seized also the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.
25 # For ch. 25:25–26:2, see 2 Kgs. 14:17-22 Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 26Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? 27From the time when he turned away from the Lord they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. 28And they brought him upon horses, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David.#25:28 Hebrew of Judah
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