2 Chronicles 25:5-16

Evangelical Heritage Version

War Against Edom

⁵ Amaziah then assembled Judah. He organized the troops on the basis of their fathers’ houses, under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all of Judah and Benjamin. He took a count of all of those who were twenty years old and older. He found three hundred thousand men capable of going to war, able to handle spear and shield.

⁶ He also hired from Israel one hundred thousand powerful warriors for one hundred talents of silver.

⁷ A man of God came to him, saying, “O King, the army of Israel must not go along with you because the Lord is not with Israel. He is not with any of these descendants of Ephraim. ⁸ Even if you go and you take action, and you are strong for battle, God will defeat you in the face of the enemy, because God has power both to help and to defeat.”

⁹ Amaziah said to the man of God, “What am I to do about the hundred talents I gave to the army of Israel?”

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

¹⁰ So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim. They were told to return home, but they were very angry against Judah. They returned to their homes, burning with anger.

¹¹ But Amaziah took courage. He led his troops out to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down ten thousand men of Seir. ¹² The men of Judah captured ten thousand of them alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down from the top of the cliff. All of them were dashed to pieces.

¹³ But the men from the army, whom Amaziah had not allowed to go with him to battle, attacked the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people from those cities. They also carried off a lot of plunder.

¹⁴ After Amaziah came back from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought with him the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his own gods. He worshipped them and made offerings to them.

¹⁵ The Lord was angry with Amaziah, so he sent a prophet to him, who said to him, “Why are you seeking the gods of another people, gods who did not deliver their own people from your hand?”

¹⁶ But while he was speaking to him, the king said to him, “Have we made you an advisor to the king? Stop! Why should you be struck down?”

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