2 Kings14

¹In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king.

²He 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.

³He 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.

⁴Only the high places were not eliminated; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁵Now it came about, as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he killed his servants who had killed the king, his father.

⁶But he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, in obedience to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

⁷He killed ten thousand of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and named it Joktheel, as it is to this day.

⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s face each other in combat.”

⁹But Jehoash king of Israel sent messengers to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thorn bush that was in Lebanon sent word to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ But a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn bush.

¹⁰You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart is elated. Enjoy the glory and stay home; for why should you get involved in trouble so that you would fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and they faced each other, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

¹²And Judah was defeated by Israel, and they fled, every man to his tent.

¹³Then Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and tore down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

¹⁴And he took all the gold and silver and all the utensils which were found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, the hostages as well, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁵Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

¹⁶So Jehoash lay down with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and his son Jeroboam became king in his place.

¹⁷Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.

¹⁸Now as for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

¹⁹They formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent men to Lachish after him and they killed him there.

²⁰Then they carried him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

²¹And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

²²He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his fathers.

²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and reigned for forty-one years.

²⁴He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not abandon all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel.

²⁵He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

²⁶For the Lord saw the misery of Israel, which was very bitter; for there was neither bond nor free spared, nor was there any helper for Israel.

²⁷Yet the Lord did not say that He would wipe out the name of Israel from under heaven, but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

²⁸Now as for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did and his might, how he fought and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

²⁹And Jeroboam lay down with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah became king in his place.