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

Amaziah rules Judah

14 Amaziah, the son of Judah’s King Jehoash,[a] became king in the second year of Israel’s King Joash, who was Jehoahaz’s son. Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, but not as well as his ancestor King David. He did everything his father Jehoash did. However, the shrines weren’t removed. People kept sacrificing and burning incense at them. Once he had secured control over his kingdom, he executed the officials who had assassinated his father the king. However, he didn’t kill the children of the murderers, because of what is written in the Instruction scroll from Moses, where the Lord commanded, Parents shouldn’t be executed because of what their children have done; neither should children be executed because of what their parents have done. Each person should be executed for their own guilty acts.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 14:1 Heb Joash (also in 14:3, 17, 23); the king’s name is variously spelled in either long Jehoash or short Joash form. The latter is the form used in 2 Chron.
  2. 2 Kings 14:6 Deut 24:16