2 Chronicles 25
He Sent the Hired Army Home and Lost the Silver
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Amaziah King of Judah
25:1Amaziah became king at twenty-five years of age, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Joaden from Jerusalem.
25:2He did what was right before the Lord, but not with a full heart.
25:3When the kingdom was established in his hand, he put to death his servants who had murdered his father the king.
25:4But he did not kill their sons, according to the covenant of the Lord’s law, as written, as the Lord commanded: “Fathers shall not die for children, and sons shall not die for fathers; each shall die for his own sin.”
The Hired Men of Israel Sent Home
25:5Amaziah gathered Judah’s house and organized them by their ancestral houses under commanders of thousands and hundreds throughout Judah and Jerusalem. He counted those twenty years old and upward and found three hundred thousand capable men able to go out to war, bearing spear and large shield.
25:6He hired one hundred thousand men mighty in strength from Israel for one hundred talents of silver.
25:7A man of God came to him and said, “King, Israel’s army shall not go with you, because the Lord is not with Israel, all the sons of Ephraim.
25:8For if you suppose you can be strong through these men, the Lord will rout you before your enemies, because both strength and rout come from the Lord.”
25:9Amaziah said to the man of God, “What shall I do about the hundred talents I gave Israel’s army?” The man of God said, “The Lord can give you far more than these.”
25:10Amaziah separated off the army that had come to him from Ephraim, to return to their place. They became very angry with Judah and returned to their place in furious wrath.
The Slaughter in the Valley of Salt
25:11Amaziah grew strong, took his people with him, and went to the Valley of Salts. There he struck down ten thousand of Seir’s sons.
25:12The sons of Judah captured ten thousand alive and brought them to the top of the cliff. They hurled them down from the cliff’s top, and all were torn apart.
25:13The men of the army that Amaziah had sent back from accompanying him to war attacked Judah’s cities, from Samaria to Baithoron. They struck down three thousand in them and took many spoils.
Amaziah Worships the Gods of Seir
25:14After Amaziah returned from striking Idumea, he brought to them the gods of Seir’s sons and set them up as gods for himself. He bowed before them and himself sacrificed to them.
25:15The Lord’s wrath came upon Amaziah, and He sent him prophets who said, “Why have you sought the gods of a people who could not rescue their own people from your hand?”
25:16While he was speaking to him, the king said, “Have I appointed you the king’s counselor? Take care that you are not flogged.” The prophet fell silent, but said, “I know that He has purposed against you to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my counsel.”
The Thistle and the Cedar
25:17Amaziah took counsel and sent to Joash son of Joachaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us appear face to face.”
25:18Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah: “The achouch in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Look, the wild animals of the field in Lebanon will come. The animals came and trampled the achouch.
25:19You say, ‘Look, you have struck Idumea,’ and your heavy heart lifts you up. Now remain in your house. Why engage in evil, so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
25:20Amaziah did not listen, for this came from the Lord, to deliver him into others’ hands, because he had sought the Idumeans’ gods.
25:21Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah appeared before one another at Baithsamys, which belongs to Judah.
25:22Judah was routed before Israel, and each man fled to his tent.
25:23Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, at Baithsamys. He brought him into Jerusalem and tore down four hundred cubits of Jerusalem’s wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
25:24He took all the gold and silver, all the articles found in the Lord’s house and with Abdedom, the treasures of the king’s house, and the sons of the mixed company, and returned to Samaria.
The Death of Amaziah
25:25Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Joachaz king of Israel.
25:26As for the rest of Amaziah’s acts, first and last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?
25:27At the time Amaziah departed from the Lord, they formed an attack against him. He fled from Jerusalem to Lachis, but they sent after him to Lachis and put him to death there.
25:28They carried him on horses and buried him with his fathers in David’s city.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.