Amaziah's Reign: Victory, Pride, and Defeat by Israel
2 Chronicles 25:1-28
1Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he reigned, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.2He did what was upright in the eyes of the LORD, except that it was not with a complete heart.3When the kingdom was strengthened upon him, he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father.4He did not put their sons to death, for it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying, Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons for fathers, but each man shall die for his own sin.5Amaziah assembled Judah and set them by fathers' houses, by commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, throughout Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those from twenty years old and upward and found three hundred thousand chosen men going out to the army, grasping spear and shield.6He hired from Israel one hundred thousand mighty men of strength for one hundred talents of silver.7A man of God came to him and said, The king must not go with you, O army of Israel, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all the sons of Ephraim.8If you go, strengthen yourself for battle; God will make you stumble before the enemy, for there is strength in God to help and to make stumble.9Amaziah said to the man of God, What then shall I do about the hundred talents that I gave to the band of Israel? The man of God said, The LORD is able to give you much more than this.10So Amaziah separated them, the band that had come to him from Ephraim, to go to their place. Their anger burned greatly against Judah, and they returned to their place in burning anger.11Amaziah took courage and led his people; he went to the Valley of Salt Sea and struck down ten thousand men of Seir.12The sons of Judah captured ten thousand alive and brought them to the top of the rock and threw them down from the top of the rock, and all of them were broken open.13The sons of the band that Amaziah had sent back from going with him to battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria as far as Beth-horon; they struck down three thousand of them and took much plunder.14It happened 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 bowed down and to them he burned incense.15The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, and he said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of the people who did not rescue their people from your hand?"16It happened while he was speaking to him that the king said to him, Have we appointed you as counselor to the king? Stop! Why should they strike you down? So the prophet stopped, but he said, I know that God has determined to ruin you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.17Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us confront one another face to face."18Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife.' Then a living creature of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle."19You have said, Behold, I have struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Stay now in your house; why should you stir yourself up in harm, so that you fall, you and Judah with you?20Amaziah did not listen, for it was from God, in order to give them into the hand, because they had sought the gods of Edom.21Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.22Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his home.23Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He broke through the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.24He took all the gold and the silver and all the articles that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, the treasures of the house of the king, and the sons of the hostages, and returned to Samaria.25Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.26The rest of the acts of Amaziah, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?27From the time that Amaziah turned aside from following the LORD, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.28They carried him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.