2 Kings 14

New International Reader’s Version

1 Amaziah began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the second year that Jehoash was king of Israel. He was the son of Jehoahaz. Amaziah was the son of Joash.2 Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan. She was from Jerusalem.3 Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. But he didn’t do what King David had done. He always followed the example of his father Joash.4 But the high places weren’t removed. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.5 The kingdom was firmly under his control. So he put to death the officials who had murdered his father, the king.6 But he didn’t put their children to death. He obeyed what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. There the LORD commanded, ‘Parents must not be put to death because of what their children do. And children must not be put to death because of what their parents do. People must die because of their own sins.’ (De 24:16)7 Amaziah won the battle over 10,000 men of Edom. It happened in the Valley of Salt. During the battle he captured the town of Sela. He called it Joktheel. That’s the name it still has to this day.8 After the battle, Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the king of Israel. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. Amaziah said, ‘Come on. Let us face each other in battle.’9 But Jehoash, the king of Israel, answered Amaziah, the king of Judah. Jehoash said, ‘A thorn bush in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar tree there. The thorn bush said, “Give your daughter to be married to my son.” Then a wild animal in Lebanon came along. It crushed the thorn bush by walking on it.10 It’s true that you have won the battle over Edom. So you are proud. Enjoy your success while you can. But stay home and enjoy it! Why ask for trouble? Why bring yourself crashing down? Why bring Judah down with you?’11 But Amaziah wouldn’t listen. So Jehoash, the king of Israel, attacked. He and Amaziah, the king of Judah, faced each other in battle. The battle took place at Beth Shemesh in Judah.12 Israel drove Judah away. Every man ran home.13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah at Beth Shemesh. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Joash was the son of Ahaziah. Jehoash went to Jerusalem. He broke down part of its wall. It’s the part that went from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 200 metres long.14 Jehoash took all the gold, silver and objects that were in the LORD’s temple. He also took all those same kinds of things that were among the treasures of the royal palace. And he took prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.15 The other events of the rule of Jehoash are written down. That includes his war against Amaziah, the king of Judah. Everything he did and accomplished is written in the official records of the kings of Israel.16 Jehoash joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in Samaria in the royal tombs of Israel. Jehoash’s son Jeroboam became the next king after him.17 Amaziah king of Judah lived for 15 years after Jehoash king of Israel died. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz.18 The other events of Amaziah’s rule are written down. They are written in the official records of the kings of Judah.19 Some people made evil plans against Amaziah in Jerusalem. So he ran away to Lachish. But they sent men to Lachish after him. There they killed him.20 His body was brought back on a horse. Then he was buried in the family tomb in Jerusalem, the City of David.21 All the people of Judah made Uzziah king. He was 16 years old. They made him king in place of his father Amaziah.22 Uzziah rebuilt Elath. He brought it under Judah’s control again. He did it after Amaziah joined the members of his family who had already died.23 Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria. It was in the 15th year that Amaziah was king of Judah. Jeroboam ruled for 41 years. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Jeroboam was the son of Jehoash.24 Jeroboam did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD. He didn’t turn away from any of the sins the earlier Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had committed. That Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit those same sins.25 Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, made the borders of Israel the same as they were before. They reached from Lebo Hamath all the way to the Dead Sea. That’s what the LORD, the God of Israel, had said would happen. He had spoken that message through his servant Jonah. Jonah the prophet was the son of Amittai. Jonah was from the town of Gath Hepher.26 The LORD had seen how much everyone in Israel was suffering. It didn’t matter whether they were slaves or free. They didn’t have anyone to help them.27 The LORD hadn’t said he would wipe out Israel’s name from the earth. So he saved them by the power of Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash.28 The other events of the rule of Jeroboam are written down. What he and his army accomplished is written down. That includes how he brought Damascus and Hamath back under Israel’s control. Damascus and Hamath had belonged to the territory of Judah. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Israel.29 Jeroboam joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in the royal tombs of Israel. Jeroboam’s son Zechariah became the next king after him.

2 Kings 14

English Standard Version

1 In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. (2Ki 12:21; 2Ki 13:10; 2Ch 25:1)2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done.4 But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. (2Ki 12:3; 2Ki 16:4)5 And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. (2Ki 12:20; 2Ki 15:19)6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.” (De 24:16; Jer 31:30; Eze 18:4; Eze 18:20)7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day. (Jos 15:38; 2Sa 8:13; 1Ch 18:12; 2Ch 25:11; Isa 16:1)8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash[1] the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” (2Ki 23:29; 2Ch 25:17)9 And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. (Jud 9:8)10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?” (De 8:14; 2Ki 14:7; 2Ch 26:16; 2Ch 32:25; Eze 28:2; Eze 28:5; Eze 28:17)11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. (Jos 15:10; 2Ki 14:8)12 And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. (1Sa 4:10)13 And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits,[2] from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. (2Ch 25:23; 2Ch 26:9; Ne 8:16; Ne 12:39; Jer 31:38; Zec 14:10)14 And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria. (1Ki 7:51; 2Ki 12:18)15 Now 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? (2Ki 13:12)16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.17 Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. (2Ch 25:25)18 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. (Jos 10:3)20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. (De 2:8; 2Ki 16:6; 2Ch 8:17; 2Ch 26:2)23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. (1Ki 14:16)25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. (De 3:17; Jos 19:13; 1Ki 8:65; 2Ki 10:32; 2Ki 13:25; Jon 1:1; Mt 12:39)26 For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. (Ex 3:7; De 32:36; 2Ki 13:4)27 But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. (2Ki 13:5; 2Ki 13:23)28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? (2Sa 8:6; 1Ki 11:24; 1Ch 18:5; 2Ch 8:3)29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.