Beginning

Amaziah becomes king of Judah

25 Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. ² He did things that the Lord said were good. But he was not completely faithful.

³ Amaziah made himself strong to rule his kingdom with authority. Then he killed the officers who had murdered his father, King Joash. ⁴ But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’^[a]

Amaziah's army

⁵ Then Amaziah brought all the people of Judah together. For each of their clans he chose officers to lead groups of 1,000 men and groups of 100 men. He did that for the clans of Judah's tribe and the clans of Benjamin's tribe.^[b] He counted all the men who were 20 years old or older who could fight with spears and shields. There were 300,000 of them. ⁶ He also paid 3,500 kilograms of silver for 100,000 soldiers from Israel to join his army.

⁷ But a prophet went to meet Amaziah and he said, ‘Please sir, do not take these soldiers from Israel to go and fight beside your own soldiers. The Lord has turned away from the tribe of Ephraim and all of Israel. ⁸ The Lord will allow your enemies to win against you, even if you fight very well. God has the power to help you, but he can also cause your enemies to win against you.’

⁹ Amaziah said to God's prophet, ‘But I have paid 3,500 kilograms of silver for these soldiers from Israel. What should I do about that?’ The prophet replied, ‘The Lord is able to give you much more than all that money!’

¹⁰ So Amaziah sent away the soldiers who had come from Ephraim.^[c] He told them to go back to their homes. So they became very angry with Judah's people. As they went home, they had angry thoughts.

Amaziah fights against Edom

¹¹ But Amaziah was brave. He led his army to Salt Valley. There they killed 10,000 soldiers from Edom.^{[d] 12} They also caught 10,000 soldiers as their prisoners. They took them to the top of a high rock. They threw their prisoners from the top. They all fell down onto the rocks below and they died.

¹³ But the soldiers from Israel that Amaziah had sent home attacked some towns in Judah. They were angry because Amaziah had not allowed them to join his army in the battle. They killed 3,000 men in Judah's towns between Samaria and Beth Horon. They took away many valuable things from those towns.

Amaziah worships idols

¹⁴ After Amaziah's army had killed the soldiers from Edom, he returned to Judah. He brought back some idols of the gods that the people of Edom worshipped. He started to worship them as his own gods. He offered sacrifices to them. ¹⁵ So the Lord became angry with Amaziah. He sent a prophet to him with a message. The prophet said to Amaziah, ‘You should not worship these foreign gods! They could not even save their own people from your power!’

¹⁶ While the prophet was still speaking, the king said to him, ‘We did not choose you to be the king's advisor! If you do not stop speaking, my men will kill you.’ So the prophet stopped. But then he said, ‘I know what God has decided to do. He will destroy you because you have done these bad things and you have not listened to my advice.’

Amaziah attacks Israel

¹⁷ Then King Amaziah of Judah met with his advisors. Then he sent a message to King Jehoash of Israel. He was the son of Jehoahaz and the grandson of Jehu. King Amaziah's message said, ‘Come here and meet me!’

¹⁸ But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah: ‘In Lebanon, a thorn bush sent this message to a cedar tree: “Please give your daughter to my son, to be his wife.” Then a wild animal of Lebanon came and knocked down the thorn bush. It walked all over it! ¹⁹ You are proud that you have won the fight against Edom. But do not boast about your power! You may be very happy, but stay at home! Do not try to fight against us. If you do that, you will cause trouble that destroys both you and your kingdom, Judah.’

²⁰ But Amaziah did not accept Jehoash's message. God had decided to put him under the power of his enemies because he worshipped the gods of Edom. ²¹ So King Jehoash of Israel prepared to attack Amaziah's army. Jehoash and Amaziah met together in battle at Beth Shemesh, a town in Judah. ²² Israel's army won the battle against Judah's army. All the soldiers from Judah ran back home. ²³ At Beth Shemesh, King Jehoash of Israel caught the king of Judah, Amaziah, the son of Joash and the grandson of Ahaziah. King Jehoash took him to Jerusalem. He destroyed the wall of Jerusalem, between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 180 metres long.^{[e] 24} He took away all the gold and the silver from the temple, including the valuable things that Obed-Edom was taking care of. Jehoash also took the valuable things from the king's palace. He also took some of the people away with him as prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.

Amaziah dies

²⁵ Joash's son Amaziah, the king of Judah, lived for 15 years after Jehoahaz's son Jehoash, the king of Israel, died.^{[f] 26} All the other things that happened while Amaziah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of the kings of Judah and Israel’. ²⁷ After Amaziah had turned away from the Lord, some people in Jerusalem made a plan to kill him. So he ran away to Lachish. But the people in Jerusalem sent men to catch him in Lachish. They killed Amaziah there.^{[g] 28} They carried his dead body back to Jerusalem on a horse. They buried him there beside his ancestors in the city of Judah.

Uzziah rules Judah as king

26 All the people of Judah chose Uzziah to be their king instead of his father, King Amaziah. Uzziah was 16 years old.^{[h] 2} He built Elath again after King Amaziah had died. He made it a part of Judah again.

³ Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. And he ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother's name was Jecoliah. She came from Jerusalem. ⁴ Uzziah did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He served God faithfully all the time that Zechariah was alive. Zechariah taught him to respect and obey God. As long as Uzziah served the Lord faithfully, God gave him success.

God helps Uzziah

⁶ Uzziah took his army to attack the Philistines. He destroyed the walls of their cities, Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he made the towns near Ashdod strong, as well as other towns where the Philistines lived. ⁷ God helped him to win battles against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-Baal, and against the Meunites. ⁸ The people from Ammon paid taxes to Uzziah. He became very powerful. So everyone as far as the border of Egypt knew that he was a great king.

⁹ Uzziah built strong towers on Jerusalem's walls to make the city safe. He built them at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the place where the wall turned. ¹⁰ He also built towers in the desert. He dug holes in the ground to contain water. He needed water for his animals on the low hills and in the valleys, because he had many of them. He also enjoyed growing crops. He had men who worked in the fields and in the vineyards. These were on the hills and in places where crops would grow well.

Uzziah's army

¹¹ Uzziah had an army of soldiers who were ready to fight battles. The king's secretary, Jeiel, and his officer, Maaseiah, put the soldiers into groups. They counted the soldiers in each group. Hananiah was the army captain who had authority over them. ¹² There were 2,600 family leaders who led the groups of soldiers. ¹³ Together they led 307,500 soldiers who knew how to fight well. They were a powerful army that could keep the king safe against his enemies. ¹⁴ Uzziah gave shields, spears, helmets and armour to the whole army. He also gave them bows and arrows, and stones to put in their slings.

¹⁵ Men in Jerusalem who had special skills built machines that could shoot arrows and big stones. Uzziah put them on the towers and at the corners of the walls around Jerusalem. God helped him in many ways, so that he became very famous and powerful.

Uzziah becomes proud and God punishes him

¹⁶ Uzziah was so powerful that he became proud. That caused him to lose his power. He began to turn away from the Lord his God. He went into the Lord's temple to burn incense on the special altar there. ¹⁷ Azariah and 80 other brave priests of the Lord went into the temple after him. ¹⁸ They warned King Uzziah. They said to him, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Lord. Only the priests, Aaron's descendants, may do that. They are the people that God has chosen to offer incense to him. So you must leave this Holy Place because you have done something that is wrong. As a result, the Lord God will not give you any honour.’

¹⁹ Then Uzziah became angry. In his hand, he was holding a pot with hot coals and incense in it. He was standing in the Lord's temple, near the special altar for incense. The priests were there with him. When he started to shout at the priests, a bad disease suddenly appeared on the skin of his face. ²⁰ Azariah, the leader of the priests, and all the other priests turned towards Uzziah. They saw the terrible disease on the skin at the front of his head. So they quickly took him out of the temple. Uzziah himself was also in a hurry to leave, because the Lord had punished him with this disease.^[i]

King Uzziah dies

²¹ King Uzziah had the terrible disease on his skin until the day that he died. He lived in his own house, away from other people. He could not go into the Lord's temple because of his disease. His son Jotham had authority in the palace and he ruled the people of Judah.

²² All the other things that happened while Uzziah was king are written in a book. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz's son, wrote down those things. ²³ Uzziah died and they buried him near his ancestors. Because he had the terrible disease on his skin, they did not bury him beside the other kings that had died. Instead they buried him in a field for graves that belonged to the kings of Judah.

His son Jotham became king after him.

Jotham rules Judah as king

27 Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah as king in Jerusalem for 16 years. His mother's name was Jerusha. She was Zadok's daughter. ² Jotham did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Uzziah had done. But he did not try to go into the Lord's temple and offer incense, as his father had done. But the people continued to do bad things.

³ Jotham built the Higher Gate of the Lord's temple. He also did a lot of work to repair the city wall near Ophel hill. ⁴ He built towns in the hill country of Judah. He also built strong buildings and towers in the forests.^[j]

⁵ Jotham took his army to attack the king of Ammon. He won the battle against them. That year, the Ammonites gave to him 3,400 kilograms of silver. They also gave him 2,200 kilolitres of wheat and 2,200 kilolitres of barley. The Ammonites paid Jotham the same amount for each of the next two years.

⁶ Jotham became a powerful king because he faithfully obeyed the Lord his God.

Jotham dies

⁷ The other things that happened while Jotham was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of the kings of Israel and Judah’. It tells about the wars that Jotham fought and the other things that he did. ⁸ He was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah as king in Jerusalem for 16 years. ⁹ Jotham died and his people buried him in the City of David.

His son Ahaz became king after him.