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Lord, the God of their ancestors, so judgment
was carried out against Joash.
25 The Arameans withdrew, leaving Joash severely wounded. But his own officials plotted to
kill him for murdering the son* of Jehoiada the
priest. They assassinated him as he lay in bed.
Then he was buried in the City of David, but not
in the royal cemetery. 26 The assassins were Jozacar,* the son of an Ammonite woman named
Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of a Moabite
woman named Shomer.*
27 The account of the sons of Joash, the prophecies about him, and the record of his restoration of the Temple of God are written in The
Commentary on the Book of the Kings. His son
Amaziah became the next king.
Amaziah Rules in Judah
Amaziah was twenty-five years old
when he became king, and he reigned
in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother
was Jehoaddin* from Jerusalem. 2 Amaziah did
what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, but not
wholeheartedly.
3 When Amaziah was well established as
king, he executed the officials who had assassinated his father. 4 However, he did not kill the
children of the assassins, for he obeyed the
command of the Lord as written by Moses in
the Book of the Law: “Parents must not be put to
death for the sins of their children, nor children
for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to
die must be put to death for their own crimes.”*
5 Then Amaziah organized the army, assigning generals and captains* for all Judah and
Benjamin. He took a census and found that he
had an army of 300,000 select troops, twenty
years old and older, all trained in the use of
spear and shield. 6 He also paid about 7,500
pounds* of silver to hire 100,000 experienced
fighting men from Israel.
7 But a man of God came to him and said,
“Your Majesty, do not hire troops from Israel,
for the Lord is not with Israel. He will not help
those people of Ephraim! 8 If you let them go
with your troops into battle, you will be defeated by the enemy no matter how well you
fight. God will overthrow you, for he has the
power to help you or to trip you up.”
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what
about all that silver I paid to hire the army of
Israel?”
The man of God replied, “The Lord is able to
25
24:25 As in Greek version and Latin Vulgate; Hebrew reads
sons. 24:26a As in parallel text at 2 Kgs 12:21; Hebrew reads
Zabad. 24:26b As in parallel text at 2 Kgs 12:21; Hebrew
reads Shimrith, a variant spelling of Shomer. 25:1 As in
parallel text at 2 Kgs 14:2; Hebrew reads Jehoaddan, a variant
spelling of Jehoaddin. 25:4 Deut 24:16. 25:5 Hebrew
commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.
25:6 Hebrew 100 talents [3,400 kilograms]. 25:17a Hebrew
Joash, a variant spelling of Jehoash; also in 25:18, 21, 23, 25.
25:17b Hebrew Come, let us look one another in the face.
25:23 Hebrew 400 cubits [180 meters].
2 CHR ONICL ES 25
give you much more than this!” 10 So Amaziah
discharged the hired troops and sent them back
to Ephraim. This made them very angry with Judah, and they returned home in a great rage.
11 Then Amaziah summoned his courage and
led his army to the Valley of Salt, where they
killed 10,000 Edomite troops from Seir. 12 They
captured another 10,000 and took them to the
top of a cliff and threw them off, dashing them
to pieces on the rocks below.
13 Meanwhile, the hired troops that Amaziah
had sent home raided several of the towns of
Judah between Samaria and Beth-horon. They
killed 3,000 people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
14 When King Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought with him idols
taken from the people of Seir. He set them up
as his own gods, bowed down in front of them,
and offered sacrifices to them! 15 This made the
Lord very angry, and he sent a prophet to ask,
“Why do you turn to gods who could not even
save their own people from you?”
16 But the king interrupted him and said,
“Since when have I made you the king’s counselor? Be quiet now before I have you killed!”
So the prophet stopped with this warning:
“I know that God has determined to destroy you
because you have done this and have refused to
accept my counsel.”
17 After consulting with his advisers, King
Amaziah of Judah sent this challenge to Israel’s
king Jehoash,* the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu: “Come and meet me in battle!”*
18 But King Jehoash of Israel replied to King
Amaziah of Judah with this story: “Out in the
Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to
a mighty cedar tree: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ But just then a wild animal of
Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle,
crushing it!
19 “You are saying, ‘I have defeated Edom,’
and you are very proud of it. But my advice is to
stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will only
bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?”
20 But Amaziah refused to listen, for God
was determined to destroy him for turning to
the gods of Edom. 21 So King Jehoash of Israel
mobilized his army against King Amaziah of Judah. The two armies drew up their battle lines
at Beth-shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was routed
by the army of Israel, and its army scattered
and fled for home. 23 King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s king, Amaziah son of Joash and
grandson of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. Then
he brought him to Jerusalem, where he demolished 600 feet* of Jerusalem’s wall, from the
Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 24 He carried
off all the gold and silver and all the articles
from the Temple of God that had been in the