1 Amaziah was twenty-five when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem.
2 He did what was right in the LORD's eyes, though not wholeheartedly.
3 Once the kingdom was securely his, he executed the servants who had murdered his father the king.
4 Their sons, however, he did not kill, but followed what is written in the law, in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, "Fathers are not to die because of sons, and sons are not to die because of fathers; each is to die for his own sin."
5 Amaziah mustered Judah and organized them by fathers' houses under leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and over and found three hundred thousand select men fit for war, able to wield spear and shield.
6 He also hired a hundred thousand strong warriors from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him and said, "King, the army of Israel must not go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, not with any of the sons of Ephraim.
8 Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help and to bring down."
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "Then what about the hundred talents I paid the troops of Israel?" The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you far more than that."
10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and went home in a burning rage.
11 Amaziah then took heart, led his army out to the Valley of Salt, and killed ten thousand men of Seir.
12 The men of Judah captured another ten thousand alive, took them up to the top of a cliff, and threw them off the top, so that every one of them was smashed.
13 Meanwhile the troops Amaziah had sent back, not letting them go with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon; they killed three thousand people and carried off a great deal of plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them, and burned incense to them.
15 The LORD's anger flared against Amaziah, and he sent him a prophet who asked him, "Why have you consulted the gods of this people, gods that could not rescue their own people from you?"
16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, "Did we appoint you as royal adviser? Stop, or you will be struck down!" The prophet stopped, but said, "I know that God has decided to destroy you, because you have done this and would not listen to my advice."
17 Amaziah king of Judah, after taking counsel, sent a message to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel: "Come, let us meet face to face."
18 Joash king of Israel sent back this reply to Amaziah king of Judah: "A thistle in Lebanon sent word to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife.' Then a wild animal in Lebanon came by and trampled the thistle.
19 You tell yourself that you have beaten Edom, and your heart has become proud and boastful. Stay at home now. Why stir up disaster and fall, you and Judah with you?"
20 But Amaziah would not listen, for this was God's doing, so that he might hand them over to their enemies because they had consulted the gods of Edom.
21 So Joash king of Israel marched out, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met face to face at Beth-shemesh in Judah.
22 Israel routed Judah, and every man ran home to his tent.
23 At Beth-shemesh Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, prisoner and brought him to Jerusalem. He tore down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
24 He carried off all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in God's house in the care of Obed-edom, along with the palace treasures and hostages, and went back to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.
26 The rest of Amaziah's deeds, from beginning to end, are recorded, are they not, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?
27 From the time Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, people plotted against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there.
28 They brought him back on horses and buried him beside his fathers in the city of Judah.