2 *Chronicles 25

₁Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king and he was king in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Jehoaddan. She came from Jerusalem. ₂Amaziah did what the Lord wanted him to do, but he did not serve the Lord with all his heart. ₃When he was sure that all the people had accepted him as king, he killed the officers who had murdered his father. ₄He did not kill their children, because it was written in the laws of Moses that the Lord said: ‘When a child has done something wrong, you must not kill his father, and when a father has done something wrong, you must not kill his child. Everyone must die for the things that he himself has done wrong.’

₅Amaziah called all the men of Judah to come to him. All the families had to come together in groups. He also chose chief_officers and other officers. They were the leaders of all the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, all the men who were 20 years old or older. Amaziah said they must count all the men. There were 300 000 men who could go to war with spears and shields. ₆Amaziah also hired another 100 000 men from Israel. They were all good soldiers. He paid 100 talents of silver to hire them. ₇Then a man of God came to Amaziah and said: ‘Your_Majesty, you must not take the army of Israel with you because God is not with the people of Israel. He will not help the people of Ephraim. ₈You think that the army of Israel will make you stronger for the war, but God will make you lose to the enemy if they come with you. You will not win. God can make an army win or He can make them lose.’

₉Amaziah said to the man of God: ‘I have paid 100 talents of silver to hire these men of Israel. What about that money? I will lose everything.’

The man of God answered: ‘God can give you much more than that.’

₁₀Then Amaziah sent the soldiers of Israel, who came from Ephraim, back home. Those soldiers were angry with the king and the people of Judah. They went home very angry. ₁₁Amaziah became very brave. He led his men and they went to the Salt Valley. There they defeated 10 000 men from Seir. ₁₂The soldiers of Judah caught another 10 000 men of Seir and they took them to the top of a very high rock. The soldiers of Judah threw the men of Seir down from the rock and they died when they fell onto the rocks below.

₁₃Amaziah had sent the men of Israel back home to their land, so they did not go with the men of Judah to war. These men of Israel then attacked some of the towns in Judah. They attacked the towns from Samaria to Beth-Horon and they killed 3 000 people and took a lot of plunder.

₁₄Amaziah came back after he had defeated the Edomite people. He took the gods of the people of Seir and he brought them back with him. He said they were his gods and he worshipped them and sacrificed offerings to them. ₁₅The Lord was angry with Amaziah and He sent a prophet who said to him: ‘Why do you worship the gods of other people? Those gods could not help their people when you attacked them.’

₁₆The prophet was speaking when Amaziah stopped him and said: ‘Did I choose you to be my advisor? No, I did not choose you. Stop talking. If you keep on talking, I will kill you.’

The prophet stopped talking and he kept quiet, but he only said: ‘Now I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done wrong and you do not want to listen when I want to help you and tell you what to do.’

₁₇King Amaziah of Judah asked his advisors what he must do and then he sent a message to Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king_of_Israel. He said to Jehoash: ‘Come, let us fight against each other and go to war.’

₁₈King Jehoash of Israel answered King Amaziah of Judah and said: ‘A small thorn-bush on the Lebanon mountain sent a message to the big cedar tree on the Lebanon mountain. He said: “Give your daughter so that my son can marry her.”

And then a wild beast came from the Lebanon mountain and he trampled the small bush.

₁₉Amaziah, you think you are strong and important because you have defeated the Edomites. You must stay at home. Why do you want to make trouble for yourself and die? The people of Judah will also die with you.’

₂₀But Amaziah did not want to listen because God had made him stubborn. God wanted him to go to war and He would make him lose the war because he and his men had started serving the gods of Edom.

₂₁King Joash of Israel and his men came and they started the war_against Amaziah, at the town of Beth-Shemesh in the land_of_Judah. ₂₂The soldiers of Israel won the war and the men of Judah ran away. Every man ran to his home. ₂₃King Jehoash caught Amaziah, king_of_Judah, son of Joash, son of Ahaziah at Beth-Shemesh and he took him to Jerusalem. There Jehoash broke down a piece of Jerusalem's wall. He broke down 400 cubits of the wall, the part between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate. ₂₄Jehoash then took all the gold and silver and everything that he could find in the temple, everything that Obed-Edom had to look after. Jehoash also took the precious things in the palace and he caught a lot of men and took them with him when he went back to the city of Samaria.

₂₅King Amaziah of Judah, son of Joash, lived for 15 years after King Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz of Israel, had died. ₂₆Everything that Amaziah did from the time when he became king until he died is written in the book of kings_of_Judah and Israel. ₂₇After Amaziah had stopped serving the Lord, the people in Jerusalem decided to kill him. He ran away to the town of Lachish but they sent people and they killed him there. ₂₈They took his body and brought it back on horses and they buried him with his forefathers in the City of David.