Chronological
Amaziah King of Judah
14 Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah. This was during the second year Jehoash son of Jehoahaz was king of Israel. 2 Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. 3 Amaziah did what the Lord said was right. Amaziah did everything his father Joash had done. But he did not do as David his ancestor had done. 4 The places where false gods were worshiped were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense there.
5 Amaziah took strong control of the kingdom. Then he put the officers to death who had killed his father the king. 6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers. This is because of the rule written in the Book of the Teachings of Moses. The Lord had commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death when their children do wrong. And children must not be put to death when their fathers do wrong. Each person must die for his own sins.”[a]
7 Amaziah killed 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. In a battle Amaziah took the city of Sela. He called it Joktheel, and it is still called that today.
8 Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz. (Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu, king of Israel.) The message read, “Come, let’s meet face to face in battle.”
9 Then Jehoash king of Israel answered Amaziah king of Judah. Jehoash said, “A little thornbush in Lebanon sent a message to a big cedar tree in Lebanon. It said, ‘Let your daughter marry my son.’ But then a wild animal from Lebanon came by. It walked on and crushed the thornbush. 10 Yes, you have defeated Edom. But you have become proud because of your victory over Edom. Stay at home and brag! Don’t ask for trouble by fighting me. If you do, you and Judah will be defeated.”
11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went to attack. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other in battle at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 12 Israel defeated Judah. Every man of Judah ran away to his home. 13 At Beth Shemesh Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah. Amaziah was the son of Joash, who was the son of Ahaziah. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem. He broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate. This part of the wall was about 600 feet long. 14 Then he took all the gold and silver and everything in the Temple of the Lord. And he took the treasuries of the palace. He also took some hostages and returned to Samaria.
15 The other acts of Jehoash and his victories are written down. This includes his war against Amaziah king of Judah. All this is in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. 16 Jehoash died and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And his son Jeroboam became king in his place.
17 Amaziah son of Joash was king of Judah. He lived 15 years after Jehoash king of Israel died. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz. 18 The other things Amaziah did as king are written down. They are in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. 19 The people made plans in Jerusalem against Amaziah. So he ran away to the town of Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him. 20 They brought his body back on horses. And he was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem, the city of David.
21 Then all the people of Judah chose Azariah[b] to be king. He became king in place of his father Amaziah. Azariah was 16 years old. 22 He rebuilt the town of Elath and made it part of Judah again. He did this after Amaziah died.
Jeroboam King of Israel
23 Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel in Samaria. This was during the fifteenth year Amaziah was king of Judah. (Amaziah was the son of Joash.) And Jeroboam ruled 41 years. 24 He did what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to sin. And Jeroboam son of Jehoash did not stop doing the same sins. 25 Jeroboam won back Israel’s border from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea. This happened as the Lord of Israel had said. He said it through his servant Jonah son of Amittai. He was the prophet from Gath Hepher. 26 The Lord had seen how the Israelites, both slave and free, were suffering terribly. No one was left who could help Israel. 27 But the Lord had not said that he would completely destroy Israel from the world. So he saved the Israelites through Jeroboam son of Jehoash.
28 Everything else Jeroboam did is written down. All his victories are recorded. He won back Damascus and Hamath for Israel. (They had belonged to Judah.) All this is written in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. 29 Jeroboam died and was buried with his ancestors, the kings of Israel. Jeroboam’s son Zechariah became king in his place.
Amaziah King of Judah
25 Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. 2 Amaziah did what the Lord said was right. But he did not really want to obey the Lord. 3 Amaziah took strong control of the kingdom. Then he put to death the officers who had murdered his father the king. 4 But Amaziah did not put their children to death. He obeyed what was written in the Book of Moses. There the Lord commanded, “Fathers must not be put to death when their children do wrong. And children must not be put to death when their fathers do wrong. Each person must die for his own sins.”[a]
5 Amaziah gathered the people of Judah together. He grouped all the people of Judah and Benjamin by families. And he put commanders over groups of 1,000 and over groups of 100. He counted the men who were 20 years old and older. In all there were 300,000 soldiers ready to fight. They were skilled with spears and shields. 6 Amaziah also hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel. He paid about 7,500 pounds of silver for them. 7 But a man of God came to Amaziah and said, “My king, don’t let the army of Israel go with you. The Lord is not with Israel. He is not with the people from the tribes of Israel. 8 You can make yourself strong for war. But God will defeat you. He has the power to help you or to defeat you.”
9 Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what about the 7,500 pounds of silver I paid to the Israelite army?”
The man of God answered, “The Lord can give you much more than that!”
10 So Amaziah sent the Israelite army back home to Israel. They were very angry with the people of Judah. And they went home angry.
11 Then Amaziah became very brave and led his army to the Valley of Salt. It is in the country of Edom. There Amaziah’s army killed 10,000 men from Edom. 12 The army of Judah also captured 10,000 men. They took those men to the top of a cliff and threw them off. And they were broken to pieces.
13 At the same time the Israelite army was robbing some towns in Judah. These were troops that Amaziah had not let fight in the war. They robbed towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed 3,000 people and took many valuable things.
14 Amaziah came home after he had defeated the Edomites. He brought back the idols they worshiped. And he started to worship them also. He bowed down to them and offered sacrifices to them. 15 The Lord was very angry with Amaziah. The Lord sent a prophet to him. The prophet said, “Why have you asked their gods for help? They could not even save their own people from you!”
16 As the prophet spoke, Amaziah said to him, “We never gave you the job of advising the king! Stop, or you will be killed.”
The prophet stopped speaking. Then he said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done this. You did not listen to my advice.”
17 Amaziah king of Judah talked with his men who gave him advice. Then he sent a message to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz. (Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu king of Israel.) Amaziah said to Jehoash, “Come, let’s meet face to face in battle.”
18 Then Jehoash king of Israel answered Amaziah king of Judah. Jehoash said, “A little thornbush in Lebanon sent a message to a big cedar tree in Lebanon. It said, ‘Let your daughter marry my son.’ But then a wild animal from Lebanon came by. It walked on and crushed the thornbush. 19 You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom. You are proud, and you brag. But you stay at home! Don’t ask for trouble by fighting me. If you do, you and Judah will be defeated.”
20 But Amaziah would not listen. God caused this to happen. He planned to let Jehoash of Israel defeat Judah. This was because Judah asked for help from the gods of Edom. 21 So Jehoash king of Israel went to attack. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other in battle at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Israel defeated Judah. Every man of Judah ran away to his home. 23 At Beth Shemesh Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah. (Amaziah was the son of Joash, who was the son of Ahaziah.) Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem. Jehoash broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate. This part of the wall was about 600 feet long. 24 Then he took all the gold and silver and everything in the Temple of God. Obed-Edom had taken care of these things. Jehoash also took the treasures from the king’s palace. Then he took some hostages and returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash was king of Judah. He lived 15 years after Jehoash king of Israel died. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz. 26 The other things Amaziah did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27 When Amaziah stopped obeying the Lord, the people in Jerusalem made plans against him. So he ran away to the town of Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 They brought his body back on horses. And he was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.