The Scriptures (ISR 1998) 1Amatsyahu was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. And the name of his mother was Yehoaddan of Yerushalayim. 2And he did what was right in the eyes of יהוה, but not with a perfect heart. 3And it came to be, upon his strong control of the reign, that he slew his servants who had smitten his father the sovereign. 4But he did not put their children to death, but did as it is written in the Torah in the Book of Mosheh, where יהוה commanded, saying, “Fathers are not put to death for their children, and children are not put to death for their fathers, but each one has to die for his own sin.” 5And Amatsyahu gathered Yehuḏah and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, according to the fathers’ houses, for all Yehuḏah and Binyamin. And he registered them from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men going out to the army, handling spear and shield. 6And he hired one hundred thousand mighty brave ones from Yisra’ĕl for one hundred talents of silver. 7But a man of Elohim came to him, saying, “O sovereign, do not let the army of Yisra’ĕl go with you, for יהוה is not with Yisra’ĕl, with all the children of Ephrayim. 8“But if you are going, do it! Be strong in battle, else Elohim would make you fall before the enemy, for Elohim has power to help and to overthrow.” 9And Amatsyahu said to the man of Elohim, “But what do we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Yisra’ĕl?” And the man of Elohim answered, “יהוה has more to give you than this.” 10So Amatsyahu dismissed the army that had come to him from Ephrayim, to go back home. And they were greatly enraged against Yehuḏah, and they returned home in a rage. 11And Amatsyahu strengthened himself, and led his people, and went to the Valley of Salt and smote ten thousand of the sons of Sĕ‛ir. 12And the sons of Yehuḏah took captive another ten thousand alive, and they brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock, and all of them were dashed to pieces. 13And the soldiers of the army which Amatsyahu had sent back from going with him to battle, they raided the cities of Yehuḏah from Shomeron to Bĕyth Ḥoron, and smote three thousand in them, and took much spoil. 14And it came to be, after Amatsyahu came from smiting the Eḏomites, that he brought the mighty ones of the people of Sĕ‛ir, and set them up to be his mighty ones, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them. 15Therefore the displeasure of יהוה burned against Amatsyahu, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought the mighty ones of the people, which did not deliver their own people from your hand?” 16And it came to be, as he talked with him, that the sovereign said to him, “Have we appointed you counsellor to the sovereign? Stop! Why should they smite you?” Then the prophet stopped and said, “I know that Elohim has counselled to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.” 17And Amatsyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah took counsel and sent to Yo’ash son of Yeho’aḥaz, son of Yĕhu, sovereign of Yisra’ĕl, saying, “Come, let us look each other in the face!” 18And Yo’ash sovereign of Yisra’ĕl sent to Amatsyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah, saying, “The thistle that was in Leḇanon sent to the cedar that was in Leḇanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ And a wild beast that was in Leḇanon passed by and trampled the thistle. 19“You have said, ‘See, I have smitten Eḏom,’ and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Now stay at home, why should you stir up yourself to evil, that you should fall – you and Yehuḏah with you?” 20But Amatsyahu did not listen, for it came from Elohim, in order to give them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought the mighty ones of Eḏom. 21So Yo’ash sovereign of Yisra’ĕl went out. And he and Amatsyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah faced one another at Bĕyth Shemesh, which belongs to Yehuḏah. 22And Yehuḏah was smitten before Yisra’ĕl, and they each fled to his tent. 23And Yo’ash the sovereign of Yisra’ĕl caught Amatsyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah, son of Yo’ash, son of Yeho’aḥaz, at Bĕyth Shemesh, and brought him to Yerushalayim, and broke down the wall of Yerushalayim from the Gate of Ephrayim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits, 24and took all the gold and the silver, and all the utensils that were found in the House of Elohim with Oḇĕḏ-Eḏom, and the treasures of the sovereign’s house, and hostages, and returned to Shomeron. 25And Amatsyahu son of Yo’ash, sovereign of Yehuḏah, lived fifteen years after the death of Yo’ash son of Yeho’aḥaz, sovereign of Yisra’ĕl. 26And the rest of the acts of Amatsyahu, from the first to the last, see, are they not written in the book of the sovereigns of Yehuḏah and Yisra’ĕl? 27And from the time that Amatsyahu turned away from following יהוה, they made a conspiracy against him in Yerushalayim, and he fled to Laḵish. And they sent after him to Laḵish and killed him there, 28and they brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of Yehuḏah. |