Dual Panel1In the second year of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of King Joash of Judah succeeded his father.
2He was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem.
3He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not as his ancestor David had done; he followed his father Joash in everything.
4The shrines were not abolished; the people continued to sacrifice and burn offerings there.
5As soon as the royal power was firmly in his grasp, he put to death those of his servants who had murdered the king his father;
6but he spared the murderers' children in obedience to the LORD's command written in the law of Moses: “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents; each one may be put to death only for his own sin.”
7He defeated ten thousand Edomites in the valley of Salt and captured Sela; he gave it the name Joktheel, which it still bears.
8Amaziah sent envoys to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, to propose a confrontation.
9King Jehoash of Israel sent back this answer to King Amaziah of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent to a cedar in Lebanon to say, ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ But a wild beast in Lebanon, passing by, trampled on the thistle.
10You have defeated Edom, it is true; but it has gone to your head. Stay at home and enjoy your triumph. Why should you involve yourself in disaster and bring yourself to the ground, and drag down Judah with you?”
11When, however, Amaziah would not listen, King Jehoash of Israel marched out, and he and King Amaziah of Judah clashed at Beth-shemesh in Judah.
12The men of Judah were routed by Israel and fled to their homes.
13King Jehoash of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. He marched on Jerusalem, where he broke down the city wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits.
14He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the palace, as well as hostages, and then returned to Samaria.
15The other events of the reign of Jehoash, and all his achievements, his exploits, and his wars with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Israel.
16He rested with his forefathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam succeeded him.
17Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, outlived Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, by fifteen years.
18The other events of Amaziah's reign are recorded in the annals of the kings of Judah.
19A conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish; but the conspirators sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
20His body was conveyed on horseback to Jerusalem, and there he was buried with his forefathers in the city of David.
21The people of Judah, acting together, took Azariah, now sixteen years old, and made him king in succession to his father Amaziah.
22It was he who built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king rested with his forefathers.
23In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria and reigned for forty-one years.
24He did what was wrong in the eyes of the LORD; he did not give up the sinful practices of Jeroboam son of Nebat who led Israel into sin.
25He re-established the frontiers of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the sea of the Arabah, in fulfilment of the word of the LORD the God of Israel spoken by his servant the prophet Jonah son of Amittai, from Gath-hepher.
26For the LORD had seen how bitterly Israel had suffered; no one was safe, whether under the protection of his family or not, and Israel was left defenceless.
27But the LORD had made no threat to blot out the name of Israel under heaven, and he saved them through Jeroboam son of Jehoash.
28The other events of Jeroboam's reign, and all his achievements, his exploits, the wars he fought, and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath in Jaudi for Israel, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Israel.
29Jeroboam rested with his forefathers the kings of Israel, and he was succeeded by his son Zechariah.