Amasias reigneth in Juda: he overcometh the Edomites: but is overcome
by Joas king of Israel. Jereboam the second reigneth in Israel.
14:1. In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel,
reigned Amasias son of Joas, king of Juda.
14:2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign; and nine
and twenty years he reigned in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was
Joadan, of Jerusalem.
14:3. And he did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not like
David his father. He did according to all things that Joas his father,
did:
14:4. But this only, that he took not away the high places; for yet the
people sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places:
14:5. And when he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants to
death that had slain the king, his father.
14:6. But the children of the murderers he did not put to death,
according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses,
wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to
death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for
the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin.
14:7. He slew of Edom in the valley of the Saltpits, ten thousand men,
and took the rock by war, and called the name thereof Jectehel, unto
this day.
14:8. Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of
Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.
Let us see one another.... This was a challenge to fight.
14:9. And Joas, king of Israel, sent again to Amasias, king of Juda,
saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in Libanus,
saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the
forest, that are in Libanus, passed, and trod down the thistle.
14:10. Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath
lifted thee up; be content with this glory, and sit at home; why
provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee?
14:11. But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas, king of Israel,
went up; and he and Amasias, king of Juda, saw one another in
Bethsames, a town in Juda.
14:12. And Juda was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every
man to their dwellings.
14:13. But Joas, king of Israel, took Amasias, king of Juda, the son of
Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into
Jerusalem; and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of
Ephraim to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.
14:14. And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that
were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures, and
hostages, and returned to Samaria.
14:15. But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his valour,
wherewith he fought against Amasias, king of Juda, are they not written
in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
14:16. And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with
the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his stead.
14:17. And Amasias, the son of Joas, king of Juda, lived after the
death of Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.
14:18. And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the
book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?
14:19. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled
to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there.
14:20. And they brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in
Jerusalem with his fathers, in the city of David.
14:21. And all the people of Juda took Azarias, who was sixteen years
old, and made him king instead of his father, Amasias.
14:22. He built Elath, and restored it to Juda, after that the king
slept with his fathers.
14:23. In the fifteenth year of Amasias, son of Joas, king of Juda,
reigned Jeroboam, the son of Joas, king of Israel, in Samaria, one and
forty years:
14:24. And he did that which is evil before the Lord. He departed not
from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to
sin.
14:25. He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath,
unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the Lord, the
God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant, Jonas, the son of Amathi,
the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in Opher.
Opher.... The tribe of Zabulon.
14:26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was
exceedingly bitter, and that they were consumed even to them that were
shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and that there was no one to
help Israel.
14:27. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of
Israel from under heaven; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam,
the son of Joas.
14:28. But the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and
his valour, wherewith he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Emath
to Juda, in Israel, are they not written in the book of the words of
the days of the kings of Israel?
14:29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel; and
Zacharias, his son, reigned in his stead.