2 Kings 14
A Thistle Sent Word to a Cedar
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Amaziah King of Judah
14:1In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, became king.
14:2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Joadin, from Jerusalem.
14:3He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, though not like his father David. He did in accordance with everything his father Joash had done.
14:4Only he did not remove the high places; the people still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
14:5When the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down his father.
14:6But he did not put the killers’ sons to death, as written in the book of Moses’ laws, as the Lord commanded: ‘Fathers shall not die for sons, and sons shall not die for fathers; each shall die only for his own sins.’
14:7He struck down ten thousand of Edom in Gaimela, captured the Rock in battle, and named it Kathoel, to this day.
The Thistle and the Cedar
14:8Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, ‘Come, let us face one another.’
14:9Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, ‘The thornbush in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon: “Give your daughter to my son as a wife.” But the wild animals in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
14:10You have indeed struck Idumea, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy glory while sitting at home! Why contend in your wickedness? You will fall, you and Judah with you.’
14:11Amaziah did not listen. The king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Baithsamys in Judah.
14:12Judah stumbled before Israel, and each man fled to his dwelling.
14:13Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, captured Amaziah son of Joash son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, at Baithsamys. He came to Jerusalem and pulled down four hundred cubits of Jerusalem’s wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
14:14He took the gold and silver, all the vessels found in the Lord’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and the sons of the mixed unions, and returned to Samaria.
14:15The rest of Joash’s deeds, what he did in his might, how he fought Amaziah king of Judah—are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
14:16Joash lay down with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became king in his place.
The Death of Amaziah
14:17Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
14:18The rest of Amaziah’s deeds and everything he did—are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
14:19They formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. They sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
14:20They carried him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in David’s city.
Azariah Made King
14:21All the people of Judah took Azariah—he was sixteen years old—and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
14:22He built Ailoth and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his fathers.
Jeroboam Son of Joash King of Israel
14:23In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash became king over Israel in Samaria, for forty-one years.
14:24He did evil before the Lord. He did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
14:25He shifted Israel’s boundary from the entrance of Aimath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, Israel’s God, which He spoke through His servant Jonah son of Amathi, the prophet from Gethchober.
14:26For the Lord saw Israel’s humiliation was very bitter, and they were few, hemmed in, impoverished, and abandoned; there was no one helping Israel.
14:27The Lord had not spoken of blotting out Israel’s seed from beneath heaven, and He saved them through Jeroboam son of Joash.
14:28The rest of Jeroboam’s deeds, all that he did, his mighty acts, all his warfare, and how he restored Damascus and Aimath to Judah in Israel—are these not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
14:29Jeroboam lay down with his fathers, with Israel’s kings, and Azariah son of Amaziah became king in place of his father.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.