Amaziah King of Judah^(A)(B)(C)

25 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.^{(D) 3} After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. ⁴ Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses,^(E) where the Lord commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.”^[a](F)

⁵ Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered^(G) those twenty years old^(H) or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men fit for military service,^(I) able to handle the spear and shield. ⁶ He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents^[b] of silver.

⁷ But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, these troops from Israel^(J) must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. ⁸ Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”^(K)

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

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