2 Chronicles 25–26

King Amaziah of Judah

25Amaziah became king at the age of 25, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. ²He did what was pleasing to the Lord, but did it reluctantly. ³As soon as he was firmly in power, he executed the officials who had murdered his father. ^4*He did not, however, execute their children, but followed what the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses: “Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; a person is to be put to death only for a crime he himself has committed.”

War against Edom

⁵King Amaziah organized all the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin into army units, according to the clans they belonged to, and placed officers in command of units of a thousand and units of a hundred. This included all men twenty years of age or older, 300,000 in all. They were picked troops, ready for battle, skilled in using spears and shields. ⁶In addition, he hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel at a cost of about 3,400 kilogrammes of silver. ⁷But a prophet went to the king and said to him, “Don’t take these Israelite soldiers with you. The Lord is not with these troops from the Northern Kingdom. ⁸You may think that they will make you strongerⁿ in battle, but it is God who has the power to give victory or defeat, and he will let your enemies defeat you.”

⁹Amaziah asked the prophet, “But what about all that silver I have already paid for them?”

The prophet replied, “The Lord can give you back more than that!” ¹⁰So Amaziah sent the hired troops away and told them to go home. At this they went home, bitterly angry with the people of Judah.

¹¹Amaziah summoned up his courage and led his army to the Valley of Salt. There they fought and killed 10,000 Edomite soldiers ¹²and captured another 10,000. They took the prisoners to the top of the cliff at the city of Sela and threw them off, so that they were killed on the rocks below.

¹³Meanwhile the Israelite soldiers that Amaziah had not allowed to go into battle with him attacked the Judean cities between Samaria and Beth Horon, killed 3,000 men, and captured quantities of loot.

¹⁴When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought their idols back with him, set them up, worshipped them, and burnt incense to them. ¹⁵This made the Lord angry, so he sent a prophet to Amaziah. The prophet demanded, “Why have you worshipped foreign gods that could not even save their own people from your power?”

¹⁶“Since when,” Amaziah interrupted, “have we made you adviser to the king? Stop talking, or I’ll have you killed!”

The prophet stopped, but not before saying, “Now I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done all this and have ignored my advice.”

War against Israel

¹⁷King Amaziah of Judah and his advisers plotted against Israel. He then sent a message to King Jehoash of Israel, who was the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu, challenging him to fight.^{o 18}Jehoash sent this answer to Amaziah: “Once, a thorn bush in the Lebanon Mountains sent a message to a cedar: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ A wild animal passed by and trampled the bush down. ¹⁹Now Amaziah, you boast that you have defeated the Edomites, but I advise you to stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and your people?”

²⁰But Amaziah refused to listen. It was God’s will for Amaziah to be defeated, because he had worshipped the Edomite idols. ²¹So King Jehoash of Israel went into battle against King Amaziah of Judah. They met at Beth Shemesh in Judah, ²²the Judean army was defeated, and the soldiers fled to their homes. ²³Jehoash captured Amaziah and took him to Jerusalem. There he tore down the city wall from Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of nearly 200 metres. ²⁴He took back to Samaria as loot all the gold and silver in the Temple, the temple equipment guarded by the descendants of Obed Edom, and the palace treasures. He also took hostages with him.

²⁵King Amaziah of Judah outlived King Jehoash of Israel by fifteen years. ²⁶All the other things that Amaziah did from the beginning to the end of his reign are recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷Ever since the time when he rebelled against the Lord, there had been a plot against him in Jerusalem. Finally he fled to the city of Lachish, but his enemies followed him there and killed him. ²⁸His body was carried to Jerusalem on a horse, and he was buried in the royal tombs in David’s City.

King Uzziah of Judah

26All the people of Judah chose Amaziah’s sixteen-year-old son Uzziah to succeed his father as king. ²(It was after the death of Amaziah that Uzziah recaptured Elath and rebuilt the city.)

³Uzziah became king at the age of sixteen, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. ⁴Following the example of his father, he did what was pleasing to the Lord. ⁵As long as Zechariah, his religious adviser, was living, he served the Lord faithfully, and God blessed him.

⁶Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of the cities of Gath, Jamnia, and Ashdod, and built fortified cities near Ashdod and in the rest of Philistia. ⁷God helped him to defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living at Gurbaal, and the Meunites. ⁸The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and he became so powerful that his fame spread even to Egypt.

⁹Uzziah strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem by building towers at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and where the wall turned. ¹⁰He also built fortified towers in the open country and dug many cisterns, because he had large herds of livestock in the western foothills and plains. Because he loved farming, he encouraged the people to plant vineyards in the hill country and to farm the fertile land.

¹¹He had a large army ready for battle. Its records were kept by his secretaries Jeiel and Maaseiah under the supervision of Hananiah, a member of the king’s staff. ¹²The army was commanded by 2,600 officers. ¹³Under them were 307,500 soldiers able to fight effectively for the king against his enemies. ¹⁴Uzziah supplied the army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armour, bows and arrows, and stones for slinging. ¹⁵In Jerusalem his inventors made equipment for shooting arrows and for throwing large stones from the towers and corners of the city wall. His fame spread everywhere, and he became very powerful because of the help he received from God.

Uzziah Is Punished for His Pride

¹⁶But when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant, and that led to his downfall. He defied the Lord his God by going into the Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. ¹⁷Azariah the priest, accompanied by 80 strong and courageous priests, followed the king ^18*to resist him. They said, “Uzziah! You have no right to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests who are descended from Aaron have been consecrated to do this. Leave this holy place. You have offended the Lord God, and you no longer have his blessing.”

¹⁹Uzziah was standing there in the Temple beside the incense altar and was holding an incense burner. He became angry with the priests, and immediately a dreaded skin disease broke out on his forehead. ²⁰Azariah and the other priests stared at the king’s forehead in horror, and then forced him to leave the Temple. He hurried to get out, because the Lord had punished him.

²¹For the rest of his life King Uzziah was ritually unclean because of his disease. Unable to enter the Temple again, he lived in his own house, relieved of all duties, while his son Jotham governed the country.

²²The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz recorded all the other things that King Uzziah did during his reign. ^23*Uzziah died and was buried in the royal burial ground, but because of his disease he was not buried in the royal tombs. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.