15 And Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and he died; ⌊he was one hundred and thirty years old⌋c at his death. 16 And they buried him in the city of David with the kings, for he did good in Israel and with respect to God and his house.

17 Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 And they forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their ancestorsd and served the Asherahs and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem on account of this guilt. 19 But he sent prophets among them, to bring them back to Yahweh. And they testified against them, and they did not obey.

20 Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why are you transgressing the commandments of Yahweh so that you will not succeed? For you have forsaken Yahweh, so he will forsake you.’ ” 21 Then they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh. 22 So King Joash did not remember the loyal love that Jehoiada hise father had shown to him, and he killed his son. And as he was dying he said, “May Yahweh see and avenge!”

The Death of Joash

23 And it happened at the turn of the year that the army of Aramf went up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the commanders of the people from among the people, and all the war booty they sent to the king of Damascus. 24 Though the army of Aramg came with few men, Yahweh gave a very large army into their hand, for they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.h And they inflicted punishment on Joash.

25 And when they were going away from him (for they had left him with many wounds), his servants conspired against him on account of the blood of the sonsi of Jehoiada the priest. So they killed him on his bed and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him at the burial sites of the kings. 26 Now these are the ones who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath, the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith, the Moabite. 27 And as for his sons, the many oracles against him, and his repair of the foundation of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the scroll of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

The Reign of Amaziah

25 Amaziah ⌊was twenty-five years old⌋a when he became king. And he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, only not with a fully-devoted heart. 3 And it happened that as his reign was strengthened, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king. 4 But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the law, in the scroll of Moses, where Yahweh commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death on account of the sons, and the sons shall not be put to death on account of the fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

5 Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by ⌊families⌋b under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. And he counted them from ⌊twenty years old⌋c and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand chosen for going out to battle, able with spear and shield. 6 And he hired from Israel one hundred thousand strong, mighty warriors for one hundred talents of silver.

7 But a man of God came to him, saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, all the Ephraimites. 8 But even still, you yourself go, do! Be strong for the battle else God will make you stumble before the enemy! For there is power with God to help and to cause stumbling.” 9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, “Now what should I do with the one hundred talents that I have given to the troops of Israel?” And the man of God said, “⌊Yahweh is able to give⌋d to you more than this.” 10 Then Amaziah dismissed the troops that came to him from Ephraim to go to their home.e And ⌊they became very angry⌋f with Judah, and they returned to their home ⌊in great anger⌋.g

11 Then Amaziah strengthened himself, and leading his army, he went to the Valley of Salt. And he struck down ten thousand menh of Seir. 12 Now the meni of Judah captured ten thousand others alive, and they brought them to the top of the rock and threw them from the top of the rock. So all of them were smashed to pieces.

13 As for the ⌊troops⌋j Amaziah had sent back from going with him to war, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-Horon. And they struck down three thousand of them and plundered much booty.

14 And it happened that after Amaziah came back from killing the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, and he stood them up for himself as gods and bowed down before them and made smoke offerings for them. 15 So ⌊Yahweh became very angry⌋k with Amaziah and sent a prophet to him, and he said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people who could not deliver their own people from your hand?” 16 And it happened that while he was speaking to him, he said to him, “Have we appointed you as a counselor to the king? Stop—⌊why should you be killed⌋?”l So the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my advice.”