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2 Chronicles 25-26
Common English Bible

Amaziah rules

25 Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes but not with all his heart. 3 Once he had secured control over his kingdom, he executed the officials who had assassinated his father the king. 4 However, he didn’t kill their children 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.[a]

5 Amaziah gathered the people of Judah, organizing them into family units under captains of thousands and hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He summoned everyone 20 years old and older and found that there were three hundred thousand select troops, ready for service and able to handle spears and body-sized shields. 6 He also hired one hundred thousand warriors from Israel for one hundred kikkars of silver.

7 But a man of God confronted him. “King,” he said, “the troops from Israel must not go with you, because the Lord isn’t on the side of Israel or any Ephraimite. 8 Should you go with them anyway, even if you fight fiercely, God will make you stumble before the enemy, because God has the ability to either help or make someone stumble.”

9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “What about the hundred kikkars I paid for the Israelite troops?”

“God can give you much more than that,” the man of God replied.

10 Amaziah released the Ephraimite troops who had joined him so they could go home, but this only infuriated them against Judah, and they left in a rage. 11 Amaziah courageously led his people to the Salt Valley, where they killed ten thousand people from Seir. 12 The Judean forces captured another ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off so that all were dashed to pieces. 13 Meanwhile, the troops Amaziah had released from fighting alongside him raided cities in Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, killing three thousand people and carrying off a large amount of loot. 14 When Amaziah returned after defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down before them, and burned incense to them. 15 As a result, the Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent a prophet to him.

“Why do you seek the gods of this people?” the prophet asked. “They couldn’t even deliver their own people from you!”

16 “Since when do you give me advice?” Amaziah interrupted. “You better quit before you end up dead!”

So the prophet stopped, but not until he said, “I know God plans to destroy you because you’ve done this and because you’ve refused to listen to my advice.”

17 After Judah’s King Amaziah consulted with his advisors, he sent a challenge to Israel’s King Joash, Jehoahaz’s son and Jehu’s grandson. “Come on,” he said, “let’s go head-to-head!”

18 Israel’s King Joash sent the following reply to Judah’s King Amaziah: “Once upon a time, a thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar: ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. 19 Do you think that because you’ve defeated Edom, you can arrogantly seek even more? Stay home! Why invite disaster when both you and Judah will fall?” 20 But Amaziah wouldn’t listen, because God intended to use this to destroy them since they had sought Edom’s gods. 21 So Israel’s King Joash moved against Judah’s King Amaziah and went head-to-head in battle at Beth-shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was defeated by Israel, and everyone ran home. 23 At Beth-shemesh, Israel’s King Joash captured Judah’s King Amaziah, Jehoash’s[b] son and Ahaziah’s[c] grandson. Joash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down six hundred feet of the Jerusalem wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 24 Joash took[d] all the gold and silver, and all the objects he could find in God’s temple in the care of Obed-edom, and in the treasuries of the palace, along with some hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

25 Judah’s King Amaziah, Jehoash’s son, lived fifteen years after the death of Israel’s King Joash, Jehoahaz’s son. 26 The rest of Amaziah’s deeds, from beginning to end, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings? 27 From the time Amaziah turned away from the Lord, some people conspired against him in Jerusalem. When Amaziah fled to Lachish, they sent men after him, and they murdered him in Lachish. 28 They carried him back on horses and he was buried with his ancestors in David’s City.[e]

Uzziah rules Judah

26 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah,[f] who was 16 years old, and made him king after his father Amaziah. 2 He rebuilt Eloth, restoring it to Judah after King Amaziah had lain down with his ancestors.

3 Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God as long as Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear[g] of God, was alive. And as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success. 6 He marched against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs who inhabited Gur,[h] and the Meunites. 8 The Meunites[i] paid taxes to Uzziah, whose fame spread even to Egypt because he had grown so powerful. 9 He built towers in Jerusalem, at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and reinforced them. 10 He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many wells for his large herds in the lowlands and the plain. He had many workers who tended his farms and vineyards, because he loved the soil. 11 Uzziah had a standing army equipped for combat whose units went to war according to the number determined by the scribe Jeiel and Maaseiah, an officer under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king’s officials. 12 The grand total of family heads in charge of these courageous warriors was twenty-six hundred. 13 They commanded an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred. They formed a powerful force that could support the king against the enemy. 14 Uzziah supplied the entire force with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and sling stones. 15 He set up clever devices in Jerusalem on the towers and corners of the wall designed to shoot arrows and large stones. And so Uzziah’s fame spread far and wide, because he had received wonderful help until he became powerful.

16 But as soon as he became powerful, he grew so arrogant that he acted corruptly. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God by entering the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense upon the incense altar. 17 The priest Azariah, accompanied by eighty other of the Lord’s courageous priests, went in after him 18 and confronted King Uzziah.

“You have no right, Uzziah,” he said, “to burn incense to the Lord! That privilege belongs to the priests, Aaron’s descendants, who have been ordained to burn incense. Get out of this holy place because you have been unfaithful! The Lord God won’t honor you for this.”

19 Then Uzziah, who already had a censer in his hand ready to burn the incense, became angry. While he was fuming at the priests, skin disease[j] erupted on his forehead in the presence of the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests turned and saw the skin disease on his forehead, they rushed him out of there. Uzziah also was anxious to leave because the Lord had afflicted him. 21 King Uzziah had skin disease until the day he died. He lived in a separate house,[k] diseased in his skin, because he was barred from the Lord’s temple. His son Jotham supervised the palace administration and governed the people of the land. 22 The rest of Uzziah’s deeds, from beginning to end, were written down by the prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son. 23 Uzziah died and was buried with his ancestors in a field belonging to the kings, because people said, “He had skin disease.” His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 25:4 Deut 24:16
  2. 2 Chronicles 25:23 Or Joash (see also 25:25); the king's name is variously spelled in either long Jehoash or short Joash form in 2 Kgs.
  3. 2 Chronicles 25:23 See 2 Kgs 14:13; MT Jehoahaz.
  4. 2 Chronicles 25:24 See 2 Kgs 14:14; Heb omits took.
  5. 2 Chronicles 25:28 LXX; MT Judah
  6. 2 Chronicles 26:1 Uzziah is usually named Azariah in 2 Kgs 14:21; 15:1, 6-7.
  7. 2 Chronicles 26:5 LXX; MT visions
  8. 2 Chronicles 26:7 Tg; MT Gur-baal
  9. 2 Chronicles 26:8 LXX; MT Ammonites
  10. 2 Chronicles 26:19 The precise meaning is uncertain; traditionally leprosy—a term used for several different skin diseases. Also in 26:21-20, 23.
  11. 2 Chronicles 26:21 Heb uncertain
Listen to 2 Chronicles 25-26
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2 Chronicles 25-26
New International Version

Amaziah King of Judah(A)(B)(C)

25 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.(D) 3 After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. 4 Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses,(E) where the Lord commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.”[a](F)

5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered(G) those twenty years old(H) or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men fit for military service,(I) able to handle the spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents[b] of silver.

7 But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, these troops from Israel(J) must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”(K)

9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?”

The man of God replied, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”(L)

10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.(M)

11 Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. 12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.(N)

13 Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided towns belonging to Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.

14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods,(O) bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them. 15 The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save(P) their own people from your hand?”

16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?”

So the prophet stopped but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

17 After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash[c] son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us face each other in battle.”

18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle(Q) in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. 19 You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and now you are arrogant and proud. But stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?”

20 Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that he might deliver them into the hands of Jehoash, because they sought the gods of Edom.(R) 21 So Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah,[d] at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate(S) to the Corner Gate(T)—a section about four hundred cubits[e] long. 24 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom,(U) together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.

25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 As for the other events of Amaziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish(V), but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 He was brought back by horse and was buried with his ancestors in the City of Judah.[f]

Uzziah King of Judah(W)(X)

26 Then all the people of Judah(Y) took Uzziah,[g] who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2 He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his ancestors.

3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear[h] of God.(Z) As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.(AA)

6 He went to war against the Philistines(AB) and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod.(AC) He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs(AD) who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites.(AE) 8 The Ammonites(AF) brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.

9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate,(AG) at the Valley Gate(AH) and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. 10 He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.

11 Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. 12 The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. 13 Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. 14 Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army.(AI) 15 In Jerusalem he made devices invented for use on the towers and on the corner defenses so that soldiers could shoot arrows and hurl large stones from the walls. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.

16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride(AJ) led to his downfall.(AK) He was unfaithful(AL) to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense(AM) on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah(AN) the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. 18 They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests,(AO) the descendants(AP) of Aaron,(AQ) who have been consecrated to burn incense.(AR) Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy[i](AS) broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house[j](AT)—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

22 The other events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah(AU) son of Amoz. 23 Uzziah(AV) rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, “He had leprosy.” And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.(AW)

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 25:4 Deut. 24:16
  2. 2 Chronicles 25:6 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons; also in verse 9
  3. 2 Chronicles 25:17 Hebrew Joash, a variant of Jehoash; also in verses 18, 21, 23 and 25
  4. 2 Chronicles 25:23 Hebrew Jehoahaz, a variant of Ahaziah
  5. 2 Chronicles 25:23 That is, about 600 feet or about 180 meters
  6. 2 Chronicles 25:28 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also 2 Kings 14:20) David
  7. 2 Chronicles 26:1 Also called Azariah
  8. 2 Chronicles 26:5 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; other Hebrew manuscripts vision
  9. 2 Chronicles 26:19 The Hebrew for leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin; also in verses 20, 21 and 23.
  10. 2 Chronicles 26:21 Or in a house where he was relieved of responsibilities
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