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2 Chronicles 25
The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.
Amaziah king of Judah
1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, yet not with a whole heart. 3 And as soon as the kingdom was firmly his, he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father. 4 But he did not put their sons to death, but did according to what is written in the Torah, in the book of Moses, in which Yahweh commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not die for their children, nor shall children die for their fathers; but each person shall die for his own sin."
The war against Edom
5 Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set them by their fathers' houses under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. 7 But a man of Elohim came to him, saying, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, not with any of the children of Ephraim. 8 But if you go, do it, be strong for the battle; Elohim will cast you down before the enemy, for Elohim has power to help and to cast down." 9 And Amaziah said to the man of Elohim, "But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the troop of Israel?" And the man of Elohim answered, "Yahweh is able to give you much more than this." 10 So Amaziah separated the troop that had come to him from Ephraim, to go back to their own place. And their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned to their place in fierce anger.
11 Then Amaziah took courage and led out his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck down ten thousand of the children of Seir. 12 And the children of Judah captured another ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces. 13 But the men of the troop whom Amaziah had sent back, so that they would not go with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down three thousand of them and took much spoil.
The gods of Edom
14 Now after Amaziah came back from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir and set them up as his gods, and he bowed down before them and burned incense to them. 15 Therefore the anger of Yahweh burned against Amaziah, and He sent to him a prophet, who said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of the people, which did not deliver their own people from your hand?" 16 And as he was speaking to him, the king said to him, "Have we made you the king's counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?" Then the prophet stopped, and said, "I know that Elohim has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel."
War between Judah and Israel
17 Then 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 one another in the face." 18 And Joash 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 his wife'; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 19 You say, 'See, you have struck down Edom,' and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Now stay at home; why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?" 20 But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from Elohim, that He might hand them over, because they had sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Joash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22 And Judah was defeated before Israel, and every man fled to his tent. 23 And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits. 24 And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Elohim with Obed-edom, and the treasuries of the king's house, and hostages also, and he returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 Then they carried him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.
Notes
- 25:4 Chronicles quotes the same law as 2 Kings 14:6 (see the note there), with one difference in the verb: Deuteronomy 24:16 and Kings say "shall not be put to death" (yumtu), while Chronicles says "shall not die" (yamutu). The death meant is still the one given by sentence, so the sense is the same: "each person shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deuteronomy 24:16).
- 25:7 In Chronicles "Israel" often means the northern kingdom, and here the man of Elohim names it by its leading tribe, "the children of Ephraim." Its king at this time walked in the sins of Jeroboam (2 Kings 13:11), and Amaziah had bought its soldiers with silver. Verse 8 is difficult in the Hebrew and is rendered in different ways; as it stands, it is a sharp challenge: go and be strong if you will, but Elohim decides the battle. To the question about the lost silver the answer is trust in Yahweh (verse 9).
- 25:16 The prophet's question in verse 15 shows the folly of it: the gods of Edom had not delivered their own people from Amaziah's hand. The exchange then turns on one Hebrew root, ya'ats, "counsel": "Have we made you the king's counselor (yo'ets)?"; "Elohim has determined (ya'ats) to destroy you"; "you have not listened to my counsel (etsah)." In the next verse Amaziah "took counsel" (nivva'ats), but not from Yahweh. Kings does not tell of the gods of Edom; see the note on 2 Kings 14:7.
- 25:23 Here Amaziah's grandfather is called Jehoahaz, where Kings has Ahaziah (2 Kings 14:13); the two names are made of the same two parts, "Yahweh" and "has taken hold," in reverse order, and 21:17 already calls him Jehoahaz. Verse 24 adds that the vessels of the house of Elohim were "with Obed-edom," probably the Levite family given charge of the storehouse (1 Chronicles 26:15). On the broken wall and the hostages see the note on 2 Kings 14:14.
- 25:28 Kings says that he "was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David" (2 Kings 14:20). The Hebrew here reads "the city of Judah," and the ancient Greek translation has "the City of David." "The city of Judah" may simply be another name for Jerusalem: a Babylonian chronicle uses the same expression for Jerusalem when it tells of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of 597 BC. Chronicles also ties the plot against Amaziah to the time when he "turned away from following Yahweh" (verse 27).