2 Chronicles 25:5–16

Amaziah’s Campaign against Edom

⁵Then Amaziah gathered Judah and assembled them according to ancestral house, according to commanders of thousands, and according to commanders of hundreds. He numbered those 20 years old or more ^dfor all Judah and Benjamin. He found there to be 300,000 choice men who could serve in the army, bearing spear and shield. ^e6Then for 7,500 pounds ^fof silver he hired 100,000 brave warriors from Israel.

⁷However, a man of God ^gcame to him and said, “King, do not let Israel’s army go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—all the Ephraimites. ⁸But if you go with them, do it! Be strong for battle! But God will make you stumble before the enemy, ^hfor God has the power to help ⁱor to make one stumble.”

⁹Then Amaziah said to the man of God, “What should I do about the 7,500 pounds ^jof silver I gave to Israel’s division?”

The man of God replied, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.”

¹⁰So Amaziah released the division that came to him from Ephraim to go home. But they got very angry with Judah and returned home in a fierce rage.

¹¹Amaziah strengthened his position and led his people to the Valley of Salt. He struck down 10,000 Seirites, ^k12and the Judahites captured 10,000 alive. They took them to the top of a cliff where they threw them off, and all of them were dashed to pieces.

¹³As for the men of the division that Amaziah sent back so they would not go with him into battle, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, struck down 3,000 of their people, and took a great deal of plunder.

¹⁴After Amaziah came from the attack on the Edomites, he brought the gods of the Seirites ^land set them up as his gods. He worshiped before them and burned incense to them. ^m15So the Lord’s anger was against Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why have you sought a people’s gods that could not deliver their own people from your hand?” ⁿ

¹⁶While he was still speaking to him, the king asked, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Stop, why should you lose your life?”

So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God intends to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my advice.”