2 Kings 14

KJV · Chapter 14/25

¹In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.

²He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

³And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.

⁴Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.

⁵And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father.

⁶But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto 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, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

⁷He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.

⁹And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

¹⁰Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?

¹¹But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth–shemesh, which belongeth to Judah.

¹²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents.

¹³And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth–shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

¹⁴And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

¹⁶And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

¹⁷And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.

¹⁸And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

¹⁹Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

²⁰And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

²¹And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

²²He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.

²⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

²⁵He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath–hepher.

²⁶For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.

²⁷And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²⁹And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Amaziah of Judah defeats the Edomites but then foolishly challenges Jehoash of Israel to an unnecessary war, only to be defeated and humiliated, with part of Jerusalem's wall torn down. Jeroboam II considerably expands the territory of the Northern Kingdom, fulfilling a prophecy of the prophet Jonah.

Explanation

Amaziah's arrogance after his victory over Edom leads him into an unnecessary war that results in national shame — a pattern showing that success without humility often leads to downfall. The mention of the prophet Jonah here, decades before the book that bears his name, shows that he had an active ministry of political prophecies favorable to Israel before his famous mission to Nineveh, offering interesting historical context about this reluctant prophet.

Fun facts

Jehoash's reply to Amaziah, using the fable of the thistle that asks the cedar's daughter in marriage only to be trampled by an animal, is one of the rare examples of a political fable used as a form of diplomatic mockery in the Old Testament.
Jeroboam II expanded Israel to its greatest territorial size since the days of David and Solomon, a period of great material prosperity that, according to the prophets Amos and Hosea (contemporaries of this reign), coincided with deep moral and social corruption.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Kings 14:1Amaziah son of Joash begins to reign over Judah (the southern kingdom) in the second year of Jehoash of Israel (the north).
2 Kings 14:2Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem.
2 Kings 14:3Amaziah does what is right, but not at the same level as David — he follows the partly good pattern set by his own father, Joash.
2 Kings 14:4Like his father, Amaziah does not remove the high places, the shrines outside the temple where the people kept insisting on sacrificing.
2 Kings 14:5Common practice at the time was to wipe out a conspirator’s whole family, but the text praises Amaziah for following the Law of Moses, which said each person answers only for his own sin. It is an explicit exception to the chain-vengeance rule common among neighboring kings.
2 Kings 14:6Unlike common custom, Amaziah does not kill the children of his father’s murderers, following the Law of Moses to the letter: each person answers only for his own sin.
2 Kings 14:7Amaziah defeats ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, captures the city of Selah in battle, and renames it Joktheel, a name still in use when the book was written.
2 Kings 14:8Puffed up by his victory over Edom, Amaziah challenges Jehoash of Israel (the north) to a direct, face-to-face confrontation.
2 Kings 14:9Jehoash of Israel answers Amaziah’s challenge with a mocking fable comparing kings to plants: an arrogant thistle demands that a cedar give its daughter in marriage to the thistle’s son, but a wild animal passes by and tramples it. It is an ironic way of warning that Judah is punching far above its weight in challenging Israel.
2 Kings 14:10Jehoash warns Amaziah, with a fable about a thistle that compares itself to a cedar and ends up trampled, not to get into a war that will only bring ruin on him and on Judah.
2 Kings 14:11Amaziah ignores the warning, and the two kings meet in battle at Beth-shemesh, inside the territory of Judah (the south).
2 Kings 14:12Judah is defeated before Israel, and every soldier flees back home in a rout.
2 Kings 14:13Jehoash captures Amaziah at Beth-shemesh, advances to Jerusalem, and tears down a large stretch of the city’s wall.
2 Kings 14:14Jehoash carries back to Samaria all the gold, the silver, the treasures of the temple and the palace, plus hostages from Judah (the south).
2 Kings 14:15The closing formula for Jehoash again mentions his victorious war against Amaziah of Judah (the south).
2 Kings 14:16Jehoash dies and is buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel (the north); his son Jeroboam (the second) takes the throne.
2 Kings 14:17Amaziah survives fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, his old rival — but his own tragic end is still to come.
2 Kings 14:18The closing formula for Amaziah points to the chronicles of the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom).
2 Kings 14:19A conspiracy forms against Amaziah in Jerusalem; he flees to Lachish, but is pursued and killed there.
2 Kings 14:20Amaziah’s body is brought back on horses and buried in Jerusalem, with his ancestors in the City of David.
2 Kings 14:21The people of Judah (the south) crown Azariah, only sixteen years old, in place of his father Amaziah.
2 Kings 14:22Azariah rebuilds Elath and restores it to Judah (the south) after his father’s death.
2 Kings 14:23Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, begins to reign over Israel (the northern kingdom) in Samaria in the fifteenth year of Amaziah of Judah, and reigns forty-one years — a long reign.
2 Kings 14:24Jeroboam (the second) also does what is evil, never turning away from the sins of the first Jeroboam.
2 Kings 14:25Despite being described with the standard negative formula, this Jeroboam presides over a period of territorial expansion and prosperity for Israel. The text credits this to God’s compassion for the people’s suffering, not to any religious merit of the king.
2 Kings 14:26The Lord sees that the misery of Israel (the north) has reached a bitter point, with no one to help the people.
2 Kings 14:27Even so, the Lord had not yet decided to blot out Israel entirely, and He saves them through this very Jeroboam.
2 Kings 14:28The closing formula mentions Jeroboam’s wars and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Israel (the northern kingdom).
2 Kings 14:29Jeroboam (the second) dies, and his son Zechariah takes the throne of Israel (the north) in his place.

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