2 Chronicles 25

King Amaziah: Victory & Downfall

1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mama’s name was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem.

2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not with a whole heart.

3 As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he executed the officials who had assassinated his pops the king.

4 But he did not kill their kids, according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Parents are not going to be put to death for their kids, and kids are not going to be put to death for their parents; each person is going to die for their own sin.”

5 Amaziah gathered Judah and organized them by their father’s families, by commanders of thousands and hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and up, and he found them to be three hundred thousand choice warriors, fit for war, who could handle spear and shield.

6 He also hired a hundred thousand strong warriors from Israel for about seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver.

7 But a man of God popped up to him and told him, “Listen, King, do not let the army of Israel roll with you, because the Lord is not with Israel, not with any of the Ephraimites.”

8 “But if you do go, be strong for the battle! God is going to smack you down before the enemy, because God has the power to help or to make you fall!”

9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver I already paid to these Israelite troops,” The man of God answered, “The Lord can hook you up with way more than that!”

10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim, sending them back home. And they got super heated with Judah and bounced back to their cribs in a rage.

11 Then Amaziah got strong and led his army. He went to the Valley of Salt and smacked down ten thousand men of Seir.

12 The men of Judah also captured ten thousand alive and brought them to the top of a cliff, and threw them down from the top of the cliff, so they were all shattered.

13 Now, the troops whom Amaziah had sent back, not allowing them to go with him to battle, they raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people there and took a ton of loot.

Amaziah’s Idolatry & Downfall

14 After Amaziah came back from smacking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir and set them up as his gods. He bowed down to them and burned incense to them.

15 So the Lord got heated with Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to him, who told him, “Why are you seeking the gods of a people who could not even save their own people from your hand?"

16 As he was talking to him, the king said, “Did we make you the king’s advisor? Shut up! Why do you want to get killed?” So the prophet shut up, but he said, “I know God decided to destroy you, because you did this and did not listen to my advice.”

17 Then Amaziah king of Judah, after getting some bad advice, sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come on, let us face off!”

18 Jehoash king of Israel sent back to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “A thistle in Lebanon sent word to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and stomped on the thistle.”

19 “You for sure said, ‘Look, I smacked down Edom!’ And now you are feeling yourself, so you want to brag. Just chill at home! Why do you want to stir up trouble so you fall, and Judah falls with you?”

20 But Amaziah would not listen, because this was set up by God, so He could hand them over to Jehoash, because they had sought the gods of Edom.

21 So Jehoash king of Israel rolled up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced off at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

22 Judah got wrecked by Israel, and every man fled to his tent.

23 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. He brought him to Jerusalem and tore down part of the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, about six hundred feet.

24 He snatched all the gold and silver, and all the items found in God’s temple with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the king’s palace, along with hostages, and then he bounced back to Samaria.

25 Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.

26 As for the rest of Amaziah’s story, from beginning to end, is it not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel,

27 From the time Amaziah curved from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent dudes after him to Lachish and killed him there.

28 They brought him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the City of David.