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2 Chronicles 25:5-16
New English Translation

5 Amaziah assembled the people of Judah[a] and assigned them by families to the commanders of units of 1,000 and the commanders of units of 100 for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and up and discovered there were 300,000 young men of fighting age[b] equipped with spears and shields.[c] 6 He hired 100,000 Israelite warriors for 100 talents[d] of silver.

7 But a prophet[e] visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites.[f] 8 Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will defeat you[g] before the enemy. God is capable of helping or defeating.”[h] 9 Amaziah asked the prophet:[i] “But what should I do about the 100 talents of silver I paid the Israelite troops?” The prophet[j] replied, “The Lord is capable of giving you more than that.” 10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops that had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home.[k] They were very angry at Judah and returned home incensed. 11 Amaziah boldly led his army to the Valley of Salt,[l] where he defeated[m] 10,000 Edomites.[n] 12 The men[o] of Judah captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them over.[p] All the captives[q] fell to their death.[r] 13 Now the troops Amaziah had dismissed and had not allowed to fight in the battle[s] raided[t] the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed[u] 3,000 people and carried off a large amount of plunder.

14 When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people[v] of Seir and made them his personal gods.[w] He bowed down before them and offered them sacrifices. 15 The Lord was angry at Amaziah and sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why are you following[x] these gods[y] that could not deliver their own people from your power?”[z] 16 While he was speaking, Amaziah[aa] said to him, “Did we appoint you to be a royal counselor? Stop prophesying or else you will be killed!”[ab] So the prophet stopped, but added, “I know that God has decided[ac] to destroy you, because you have done this thing and refused to listen to my advice.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 25:5 tn Heb “Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy here for the people of Judah.
  2. 2 Chronicles 25:5 tn Heb “young men going out to war.”
  3. 2 Chronicles 25:5 tn Heb “holding a spear and a shield.”
  4. 2 Chronicles 25:6 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the silver was 6,730 lbs. (3,060 kg).
  5. 2 Chronicles 25:7 tn Heb “man of God.”
  6. 2 Chronicles 25:7 tn Heb “Israel, all the sons of Ephraim.”
  7. 2 Chronicles 25:8 tn Heb “cause you to stumble.”
  8. 2 Chronicles 25:8 tn Heb “to cause to stumble.”
  9. 2 Chronicles 25:9 tn Heb “said to the man of God.”
  10. 2 Chronicles 25:9 tn Heb “man of God.”
  11. 2 Chronicles 25:10 tn Heb “and Amaziah separated them, the troops who came to him from Ephraim, to go to their place.”
  12. 2 Chronicles 25:11 tn Heb “and Amaziah strengthened himself and led his people and went to the Valley of Salt.”
  13. 2 Chronicles 25:11 tn Or “struck down.”
  14. 2 Chronicles 25:11 tn Heb “sons of Seir.”
  15. 2 Chronicles 25:12 tn Heb “sons.”
  16. 2 Chronicles 25:12 tn Heb “and threw them from the top of the cliff.”
  17. 2 Chronicles 25:12 tn Heb “all of them.”
  18. 2 Chronicles 25:12 tn Heb “smashed in pieces.”
  19. 2 Chronicles 25:13 tn Heb “had sent back from going with him to the battle.”
  20. 2 Chronicles 25:13 tn Heb “stripped.”
  21. 2 Chronicles 25:13 tn Heb “struck down.”
  22. 2 Chronicles 25:14 tn Heb “sons.”
  23. 2 Chronicles 25:14 tn Heb “caused them to stand for him as gods.”
  24. 2 Chronicles 25:15 tn Heb “seeking,” perhaps in the sense of “consulting [an oracle from].”
  25. 2 Chronicles 25:15 tn Heb “the gods of the people.”
  26. 2 Chronicles 25:15 tn Heb “hand.”
  27. 2 Chronicles 25:16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amaziah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  28. 2 Chronicles 25:16 tn Heb “Stop yourself! Why should they strike you down?”
  29. 2 Chronicles 25:16 tn The verb יָעַץ (yaʿats, “has decided”) is from the same root as יוֹעֵץ (yoʿets, “counselor”) in v. 16 and עֵצָה (ʿetsah, “advice”) later in v. 16. The wordplay highlights the appropriate nature of the divine punishment. Amaziah rejected the counsel of God’s prophet; now he would be the victim of God’s “counsel.”
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2 Chronicles 24
2 Chronicles 26
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