Amaziah Reigns in Judah
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan, from Jerusalem.
And he did the upright in the eyes of the LORD — only, not with a whole heart.
And it was, when the kingdom was firm upon him, that he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father.
But their sons he did not put to death — for it is as written in the instruction, in the book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying: “Fathers shall not die for sons, and sons shall not die for fathers; but each man shall die for his own sin.”
Amaziah’s Victories
And Amaziah gathered Judah, and set them standing by the houses of the fathers — by commanders of the thousands and commanders of the hundreds — for all Judah and Benjamin; and he mustered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them three hundred thousand chosen men, going out with the army, handling spear and shield.
And he hired from Israel a hundred thousand mighty men of valor, for a hundred talents of silver.
And a man of God came to him, saying: “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you — for the LORD is not with Israel, all these sons of Ephraim.
But go yourself; act; be strong for the battle — God will make you stumble before the enemy. For there is power in God to help, and to make stumble.”
And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what is to be done about the hundred talents I have given to the raiding band of Israel?” And the man of God said, “The LORD has much more than this to give you.”
And Amaziah separated them — the raiding band that had come to him from Ephraim — to go back to their place. And their anger burned greatly against Judah, and they returned to their place in burning anger.
And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led his people, and went to the Valley of Salt; and he struck down the sons of Seir — ten thousand.
And ten thousand the sons of Judah captured alive; and they brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock — and all of them were dashed to pieces.
But the men of the raiding band that Amaziah had sent back from going with him to the battle — they raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon; and they struck down three thousand of them, and plundered much plunder.
Amaziah Rebuked for Idolatry
And it was, after Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the sons of Seir and set them up for himself as gods; and before them he would bow down, and to them he would burn incense.
And the anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah; and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him: “Why have you sought the gods of the people — who did not deliver their own people from your hand?”
And it was, as he was speaking to him, that he said to him: “Have we made you a counselor to the king? Stop yourself — why should they strike you down?” And the prophet stopped, and said: “I know that God has counseled to destroy you — because you have done this, and have not listened to my counsel.”
Jehoash Defeats Amaziah
And Amaziah, king of Judah, took counsel, and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look each other in the face.”
And Joash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying: “The thornbush that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ And a beast of the field that is in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
You have said, ‘Look — I have struck down Edom’ — and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Now stay in your house. Why should you provoke evil, so that you fall — you, and Judah with you?”
But Amaziah did not listen — for it was from God, in order to give them into the hand, because they had sought the gods of Edom.
And Joash, king of Israel, went up; and they looked each other in the face, he and Amaziah, king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
And Judah was struck down before Israel; and they fled, each man to his tents.
And Joash, king of Israel, seized Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh; and he brought him to Jerusalem, and broke through the wall of Jerusalem, from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate — four hundred cubits.
And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasuries of the house of the king, and the hostages; and he returned to Samaria.
The Death of Amaziah
And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.
And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, the first and the last — look, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
And from the time that Amaziah turned aside from following the LORD, they conspired a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish, and put him to death there.
And they carried him on the horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.