2 Chronicles 25:3-13

3 As soon as he was firmly in power, he executed the officials who had murdered his father.

4 He did not, however, execute their children, but followed what the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses: "Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; people are to be put to death only for crimes they themselves have committed." ¹

5 King Amaziah organized all the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin into army units, according to the clans they belonged to, and placed officers in command of units of a thousand and units of a hundred. This included all men twenty years of age or older, 300,000 in all. They were picked troops, ready for battle, skilled in using spears and shields.

6 In addition, he hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel at a cost of about four tons of silver.

7 But a prophet went to the king and said to him, "Don't take these Israelite soldiers with you. The Lord is not with these people from the Northern Kingdom.

8 You may think that they will make you stronger in battle, but it is God who has the power to give victory or defeat, and he will let your enemies defeat you."

9 Amaziah asked the prophet, "But what about all that silver I have already paid for them?" The prophet replied, "The Lord can give you back more than that!"

10 So Amaziah sent the hired troops away and told them to go home. At this they went home, bitterly angry with the people of Judah.

11 Amaziah summoned up his courage and led his army to Salt Valley. There they fought and killed ten thousand Edomite soldiers

12 and captured another ten thousand. They took the prisoners to the top of the cliff at the city of Sela and threw them off, so that they were killed on the rocks below.

13 Meanwhile the Israelite soldiers that Amaziah had not allowed to go into battle with him attacked the Judean cities between Samaria and Beth Horon, killed three thousand men, and captured quantities of loot.

2 Chronicles 25:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 25

This chapter begins with the reign of Amaziah, and some of the first acts of it, slaying those that killed his father, 2Ch 25:1-4, raising a large army in his own kingdom, to which he added 100,000 more he hired out of Israel, whom yet he sent home by the advice of a prophet, 2Ch 25:5-10, and with his own army marched against the Edomites, and obtained a victory over them, 2Ch 25:11,12, but the Israelites being displeased with him for dismissing them, fell on some of his cities, and slew many in them, 2Ch 25:13, and such was his stupidity, as to worship the gods of the Edomites he had conquered, for which he was reproved by a prophet, 2Ch 25:14-16 and being elated with his victory, he sent a challenge to the king of Israel, who accepting of it, a battle ensued, in which Judah was worsted, their king taken, and treasuries spoiled, 2Ch 25:17-24, and the chapter is closed with the death and burial of Amaziah, 2Ch 25:25-28.

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Cross References

• 1. 25.4Deuteronomy 24.16.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some ancient translations] You may . . . stronger; [Hebrew unclear.]