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Amaziah Rules in Judah

14 Amaziah son of Joash began to rule over Judah in the second year of the reign of King Jehoash[a] of Israel. Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, but not like his ancestor David. Instead, he followed the example of his father, Joash. Amaziah did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.

When Amaziah was well established as king, he executed the officials who had assassinated his father. However, he did not kill the children of the assassins, for he obeyed the command of the Lord as written by Moses in the Book of the Law: “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.”[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 14:1 Hebrew Joash, a variant spelling of Jehoash; also in 14:13, 23, 27.
  2. 14:6 Deut 24:16.

Amaziah Reigns over Judah

14 (A)In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, (B)Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David; he acted in accordance with everything that his father Joash had done. Only (C)the high places were not eliminated; (D)the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Now it came about, as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he [a](E)killed his servants who had [b]killed the king, his father. But he did not put the sons of [c]the murderers to death, in [d]obedience to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, “(F)The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but (G)each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 14:5 Lit struck
  2. 2 Kings 14:5 Lit struck
  3. 2 Kings 14:6 Lit those who struck
  4. 2 Kings 14:6 Lit accordance with what