²Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. But he didn’t do it with all his heart. ³The kingdom was firmly under his control. So he put to death the officials who had murdered his father, the king.

⁴But he didn’t put their children to death. He obeyed what is written in the Law, the Scroll of Moses. There the Lord commanded, “Parents must not be put to death because of what their children do. And children must not be put to death because of what their parents do. People must die because of their own sins.”

⁵Amaziah called the people of Judah together. He arranged them by families under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He did it for all of the people of Judah and Benjamin. Then he brought together the men who were 20 years old or more. He found out there were 300,000 men who were able to serve in the army. They could handle spears and shields. ⁶He also hired 100,000 fighting men from Israel. He had to pay them almost four tons of silver.

⁷But a man of God came to him. He said, “King Amaziah, these troops from Israel must not march out with you. The Lord is not with Israel. He isn’t with any of the people of Ephraim. ⁸Go and fight bravely in battle if you want to. But God will destroy you right in front of your enemies. God has the power to help you or destroy you.”

⁹Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about all of that silver I paid for these Israelite troops?”

The man of God replied, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”

¹⁰So Amaziah let the troops go who had come to him from Ephraim. He sent them home. They were very angry with Judah. In fact, they were burning with anger when they went home.

¹¹Then Amaziah showed how strong he was. He led his army to the Valley of Salt. There he killed 10,000 men of Seir. ¹²The army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff. Then they threw them down. All of them were smashed to pieces.

¹³The troops Amaziah had sent back attacked some towns in Judah. He hadn’t allowed the troops to take part in the war. They attacked towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed 3,000 people. They carried off huge amounts of goods.

¹⁴Amaziah returned from killing the men of Edom. He brought back the statues of the gods of Seir. He set them up as his own gods. He bowed down to them. He burned sacrifices to them.

¹⁵The Lord’s anger burned against Amaziah. He sent a prophet to him. The prophet said, “Why do you ask the gods of those people for advice? They couldn’t even save their own people from your power!”

¹⁶While the prophet was still speaking, the king spoke to him. He said, “Did I ask you for advice? Stop! If you don’t, you will be struck down.”

So the prophet stopped. But then he said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you. That’s because you have worshiped other gods. You haven’t listened to my advice.”

¹⁷Amaziah, the king of Judah, spoke to his advisers. Then he sent a message to Jehoash, the king of Israel. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu. Amaziah dared Jehoash, “Come on. Meet me face to face in battle.”

¹⁸But Jehoash, the king of Israel, answered Amaziah, the king of Judah. He said, “A thorn bush in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar tree there. It said, ‘Give your daughter to be married to my son.’ Then a wild animal in Lebanon came along. It walked all over the thorn bush. ¹⁹You brag that you have won the battle over Edom. You are very proud. But stay home! Why ask for trouble? Why bring yourself crashing down? Why bring Judah down with you?”

²⁰But Amaziah wouldn’t listen. That’s because God had planned to hand Judah over to Jehoash. After all, they had asked the gods of Edom for advice.

²¹So Jehoash, the king of Israel, attacked. He and Amaziah, the king of Judah, faced each other in battle. The battle took place at Beth Shemesh in Judah. ²²Israel drove Judah away. Every man ran home.

²³Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah at Beth Shemesh. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Joash was the son of Ahaziah. Jehoash brought Amaziah to Jerusalem. He broke down part of its wall. It’s the part that went from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 600 feet long.

²⁴Jehoash took all of the gold and silver. He took all of the articles he found in God’s temple. Obed-Edom had been in charge of them. Jehoash also took the palace treasures and the prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.

²⁵Amaziah king of Judah lived for 15 years after Jehoash king of Israel died. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz.

²⁶The other events of Amaziah’s rule from beginning to end are written down. They are written in the records of the kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷Amaziah turned away from following the Lord. From that time on, some people made evil plans against him in Jerusalem. So he ran away to Lachish. But they sent men to Lachish after him. There they killed him. ²⁸His body was brought back on a horse. Then he was buried in the family tomb in Jerusalem, the City of Judah.

Uzziah Becomes King of Judah

26All of the people of Judah made Uzziah king. He was 16 years old. They made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

²Uzziah rebuilt Elath. He brought it under Judah’s control again. He did it after Amaziah joined the members of his family who had already died.

³Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah. She was from Jerusalem.

⁴Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵He looked to God during the days of Zechariah. Zechariah taught him to have respect for God. As long as Uzziah looked to the Lord, God gave him success.

⁶Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he rebuilt some towns that were near Ashdod. He also rebuilt some other towns where Philistines lived. ⁷God helped him fight against the Philistines. He also helped him fight against the Meunites and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal. ⁸The Ammonites brought to Uzziah the gifts he required of them. He became famous all the way to the border of Egypt. That’s because he had become very powerful.

⁹Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. They were at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate and the angle of the wall. He made the towers very strong. ¹⁰He also built towers in the desert.

He dug many wells, because he had a lot of livestock. The livestock were in the western hills and on the flatlands. Uzziah had people working in his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the rich lands. That’s because he loved the soil.

¹¹Uzziah’s army was well trained. It was ready to march out by companies in keeping with their numbers. Jeiel and Maaseiah brought them together. Jeiel was the secretary. Maaseiah was the officer. They were under the direction of Hananiah. He was one of the royal officials. ¹²The total number of family leaders who were over the fighting men was 2,600. ¹³An army of 307,500 men was under their command. The men were trained for war. They were a powerful force. They helped the king against his enemies. ¹⁴Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows, and stones for their slings. ¹⁵In Jerusalem he made machines that were based on patterns that skilled men had drawn up. The machines were used on the towers and on the corners of walls. They could shoot arrows. They could also throw large stones.

Uzziah became famous everywhere. God greatly helped him until he became powerful.

¹⁶But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride brought him down. He wasn’t faithful to the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the altar for burning incense.

¹⁷The priest Azariah followed him in. So did 80 other brave priests of the Lord. ¹⁸They stood up to Uzziah. They said, “Uzziah, it isn’t right for you to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests are supposed to do that. They are members of the family line of Aaron. They have been set apart to burn incense. So get out of here. Leave the temple. You haven’t been faithful. The Lord God won’t honor you.”

¹⁹Uzziah was holding a shallow cup. He was ready to burn incense. He became angry. He shouted at the priests in the Lord’s temple. He did it near the altar for burning incense.

While he was shouting, a skin disease suddenly broke out on his forehead. ²⁰The chief priest Azariah looked at him. So did all of the other priests. They saw that Uzziah had a skin disease on his forehead. So they hurried him out of the temple. Actually, he himself really wanted to leave. He knew that the Lord was making him suffer.

²¹King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day he died. He lived in a separate house because he had the disease. And he wasn’t allowed to enter the Lord’s temple.

Uzziah’s son Jotham was in charge of the palace. Jotham ruled over the people of the land.

²²The other events of Uzziah’s rule from beginning to end were written down by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz.

²³Uzziah joined the members of his family who had already died. His body was buried near theirs in a royal burial ground. People said, “He had a skin disease.” His son Jotham became the next king after him.

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