Israel Defeats Judah

¹⁷ Then King Amaziah of Judah took counsel and sent to King Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.”^{(A) 18} King Joash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush.^{(B) 19} You say, ‘See, I^[a] have defeated Edom,’ and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. Now stay at home; why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”^(C)

²⁰ But Amaziah would not listen—it was God’s doing, in order to hand them over because they had sought the gods of Edom.^{(D) 21} So King Joash of Israel went up; he and King Amaziah of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²² Judah was defeated by Israel; everyone fled home. ²³ King Joash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah son of Joash son of Ahaziah at Beth-shemesh; he brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits.^{(E) 24} He seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God, and Obed-edom with them; he seized also the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages; then he returned to Samaria.