2 Kings 14

EasyEnglish Bible

Amaziah becomes the king of Judah

14 Joash's son Amaziah became the king of Judah when Jehoahaz's son Jehoash had been the king of Israel for two years. ² Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. ³ Amaziah did things that the Lord said were good. He lived in the way that his father Joash had done. But he did not do as well as his ancestor King David had done. ⁴ He did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁵ Amaziah made himself strong to rule his kingdom with authority. Then he killed the officers who had murdered his father, King Joash. ⁶ But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’^[a]

⁷ Amaziah killed 10,000 soldiers from Edom in Salt valley.^[b] He attacked Sela city and he took it for himself. He gave it a new name, ‘Joktheel’. That is still its name.

⁸ Then Amaziah sent men with a message to King Jehoash of Israel. He was the son of Jehoahaz and the grandson of Jehu. Amaziah's message said, ‘Come here and meet me.’ ⁹ But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah: ‘In Lebanon, a thorn bush sent this message to a cedar tree: “Please give your daughter to my son, to be his wife.” Then a wild animal of Lebanon came and knocked down the thorn bush. It walked all over it! ¹⁰ Yes! You have won the fight against Edom. But do not boast about your power! You may be very happy, but stay at home! Do not try to fight against us. If you do that, you will cause trouble that destroys both you and your kingdom, Judah.’

¹¹ But Amaziah did not accept Jehoash's message. So King Jehoash of Israel prepared to attack Amaziah's army. Jehoash and Amaziah met together in battle at Beth Shemesh, a town in Judah. ¹² Israel's army won the battle against Judah's army. All the soldiers from Judah ran back home. ¹³ At Beth Shemesh, King Jehoash of Israel caught the king of Judah, Amaziah, the son of Joash and the grandson of Ahaziah. Then King Jehoash went to attack Jerusalem. He destroyed the wall of Jerusalem, between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 180 metres long. ¹⁴ He took all the gold and silver and all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and the palace. He also took some of the people away with him as prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.

King Jehoash of Israel dies

¹⁵ The other things that happened while Jehoash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehoash did. It tells about the war that he fought against King Amaziah of Judah. ¹⁶ Jehoash died and they buried him beside the other kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Jeroboam became king after him.

King Amaziah of Judah dies

¹⁷ Joash's son Amaziah, the king of Judah, lived for 15 years after Jehoahaz's son Jehoash, the king of Israel, died. ¹⁸ The other things that happened while Amaziah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. ¹⁹ Some people in Jerusalem made a plan to kill Amaziah. So he ran away to Lachish. But the people in Jerusalem sent men to catch him in Lachish. They killed Amaziah there. ²⁰ They carried his dead body back to Jerusalem on a horse. They buried him there beside his ancestors in the City of David. ²¹ All the people in Judah made Amaziah's son Azariah king instead of his father. Azariah was 16 years old. ²² He was the king who built Elath into a strong city again. He put it back under Judah's power. He did that after his father Amaziah had died.

Jeroboam II becomes the king of Israel

²³ Jehoash's son Jeroboam became the king of Israel when Joash's son Amaziah had been king of Judah for 15 years. Jeroboam ruled Israel for 41 years in Samaria.^{[c] 24} He did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. He had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁵ Jeroboam was the king who made Israel's border strong between Lebo-Hamath and the Salt Sea.^[d] The Lord, Israel's God, had already told his prophet Jonah that this would happen. Jonah was the son of Amittai and he came from Gath Hepher.

²⁶ Everyone in Israel had a lot of trouble and pain, whoever they were. There was no leader who could rescue them. The Lord had seen this, so he helped Jeroboam. ²⁷ The Lord had never said that he would completely remove Israel from the earth. So he gave Jehoash's son Jeroboam the power to rescue them.

²⁸ The other things that happened while Jeroboam was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jeroboam did. It tells how he fought battles to get back power for Israel over Damascus and Hamath. ²⁹ Jeroboam died and they buried him beside the other kings of Israel in Samaria. His son Zechariah became king after him.^[e]