25 Amaziah, son of Joash and Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.

² He followed the Eternal, but was not completely devoted to Him for his entire life.

³ As soon as he took power in the Southern Kingdom, Amaziah solidified his throne by executing his opponents, the servants who had assassinated his father Joash. ⁴ But Amaziah followed Moses’ law, which the Eternal had commanded, and had mercy on their children: “Everyone is responsible for his own sins. Therefore, parents will not be killed for their children’s actions and children will not be killed for their parents’ actions.”^[a]

⁵ Then Amaziah prepared for battle by gathering the Judahites and appointing commanders from each family in Judah and Benjamin. He took a census of the men 20 years old and older, and there were 300,000 ready to fight with spears and shields. ⁶ To enlarge his army, Amaziah also hired 100,000 heroic men from the Northern Kingdom for 7,500 pounds of silver. ⁷ But Amaziah was warned against hiring mercenaries from the Northern Kingdom by a man who followed after the True God.

¹⁰ So Amaziah dismissed the Northern Kingdom’s mercenaries as the man had advised him to do, and they returned home. The mercenaries were furious at Judah because they would lose their portion of the spoils of victory, ¹³ so they raided the cities in Judah (from Samaria in the north to Beth-horon in the south), killing 3,000 and taking spoils.^[b]

¹¹ But Amaziah was rewarded for obeying God’s message. He strengthened himself and led only Judahite soldiers into battle at the valley of Salt. There they killed 10,000 Edomites from the city of Seir and ¹² captured 10,000. The Judahites then threw the prisoners from the top of a cliff, crushing them on the rocks below.

¹⁴ Unfortunately, Amaziah did not remain faithful to God and His messages. When he returned from fighting the Edomites, he brought the gods of Seir back to Jerusalem where they worshiped them—bowing down and burning incense—as he had worshiped God.

¹⁵ Furious with Amaziah, the Eternal sent a message to the king through a prophet.

¹⁷ Then Amaziah, king of Judah, listened to his royal counselors’ advice and decided to address the Northern Kingdom’s invasion of Judah. He sent a message to Joash (son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu), the king of the Northern Kingdom asking for a face-to-face meeting.

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen to Joash’s warning because the True God had allowed him to become stubborn. God intended to give Joash a victory over the Southern Kingdom because they worshiped the Edomite gods. ²¹ Then Joash, king of the Northern Kingdom, traveled south to the interior of the Southern Kingdom to face Amaziah, king of the Southern Kingdom, at Beth-shemesh. ²² As predicted, the Northern Kingdom defeated the Southern Kingdom, and the Judahites fled to their homes. ²³ Joash captured Amaziah, son of Joash who was the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and took him to Jerusalem where the Northern forces tore down 600 feet of the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate. ²⁴ Joash took all the gold, silver, and utensils from the True God’s temple from the service of Obed-edom. He then returned to Samaria with the temple treasures, palace treasures, and hostages.

²⁵ Amaziah (son of Joash, king of the Southern Kingdom) lived 15 years longer than Joash (son of Jehoahaz, king of the Northern Kingdom). ²⁶ All the events of Amaziah’s reign are included in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel, from his ascension to his assassination. ²⁷ From the moment Amaziah stopped following the Eternal to follow the Edomite gods, the people of Jerusalem plotted against him. He fled to Lachish, where the people followed and killed him. ²⁸ They brought his body back to Judah on horseback, where they buried him. But Amaziah was not honored in his burial. He was not laid with the former kings, but with just his ancestors in the capital city of Judah, Jerusalem.