1 Amaziah began to rule at age twenty-five. He ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem.

2 He did what Jehovah considered right, but he did not do it wholeheartedly.

3 Once he had firm control over the kingdom, he executed the officials who killed his father, the former king.

4 He did not execute their children. He obeyed Jehovah’s command written in the Book of Moses’ Teachings: »Parents must never be put to death for the crimes of their children, and children must never be put to death for the crimes of their parents. Each person must be put to death for his own crime.«

5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them by families to regiment and battalion commanders for all of Judah and Benjamin. He organized those who were at least twenty years old. He had three hundred thousand of the best men for the army, those who could handle a spear and a shield.

6 He also hired one hundred thousand soldiers from Israel for seven thousand and five hundred pounds of silver.

7 A man of God approached him and said: »Your Majesty, Israel’s army must not go with you. This is because Jehovah is not with Israel. He is not with these men from Ephraim.

8 »If you go into battle with them God will use the enemy to defeat you. It does not matter how courageous you are because God has the power to help you or to defeat you.«

9 Amaziah asked the man of God: »What should I do about the seven thousand and five hundred pounds of silver I gave the troops from Israel?« The man of God answered: »Jehovah can give you much more than that.«

10 Amaziah dismissed the troops that had come to him from Ephraim. They became furious with Judah and returned home.

11 Amaziah courageously led his troops. When he came to the Dead Sea region, he killed ten thousand men from Seir.

12 The Judeans captured another ten thousand alive. They took them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off the top of the cliff so that they were dismembered.

13 The troops that Amaziah sent back so that they couldn’t go with him into battle raided the towns in Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and took a lot of goods.

14 After Amaziah came back from defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down to them, and burned sacrifices to them.

15 Jehovah became angry with Amaziah. He sent him a prophet who asked: »Why do you dedicate your life to serving the gods of those people? Those gods could not save their own people from you!«

16 The king asked him: »Did we make you an adviser to the king? Stop! Do you want me to have you killed?« The prophet stopped. He said: »I know that God has decided to destroy you because you did this. Yet you refuse to listen to my advice.«

17 After receiving counsel from his advisers, King Amaziah of Judah sent messengers to King Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu of Israel, to declare war on Israel.

18 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message to King Amaziah of Judah: »A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon. It said: ‘Let your daughter marry my son, but a wild animal from Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.

19 »‘You say you defeated Edom. Now you have become arrogant enough to look for more fame. Stay home! Why must you invite disaster and your own defeat and take Judah with you?’«

20 But Amaziah would not listen. God made this happen because he wanted to hand over the Judeans to Jehoash because they had sought help from Edom’s gods.

21 Thus King Jehoash of Israel attacked. King Amaziah of Judah met him in battle at Beth Shemesh in Judah.

22 Israel defeated the army of Judah. The Judeans fled to their homes.

23 King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah, son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah of Judah, at Beth Shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He tore down a six hundred foot section of the wall around Jerusalem from Ephraim Gate to Corner Gate.

24 He took all the gold, silver, and all the utensils he found in God’s temple with Obed Edom and in the royal palace treasury. He also took hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

25 Joash’s son King Amaziah of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoahaz’s son King Jehoash of Israel.

26 Everything else about Amaziah, from beginning to end, is written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

27 Amaziah turned away from Jehovah. So conspirators in Jerusalem plotted against him. Amaziah fled to Lachish, but they sent men to Lachish after him and killed him there.

28 They brought him back by horse and buried him in the city of Judah with his ancestors.