The Divided Kingdom

And when he spoke these things, he answered him: Art thou the king's counsellor? be quiet, lest I kill thee. And the prophet departing, said: I know that God is minded to kill thee, because thou hast done this evil, and moreover hast not hearkened to my counsel.

Then Amasias king of Juda taking very bad counsel, sent to Joas the son of Joachaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.

But he sent back the messengers, saying: The thistle that is in Libanus, sent to the cedar in Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and behold the beasts that were in the wood of Libanus passed by and trod down the thistle.

Thou hast said: I have overthrown Edom, and therefore thy heart is lifted up with pride: stay at home, why dost thou provoke evil against thee, that both thou shouldst fall and Juda with thee.

Amasias would not hearken to him, because it was the Lord's will that he should be delivered into the hands of enemies, because of the gods of Edom.

So Joas king of Israel went up, and they presented themselves to be seen by one another: and Amasias king of Juda was in Bethsames of Juda:

And Juda fell before Israel, and they fled to their dwellings.

And Joas king of Israel took Amasias king of Juda, the son of Joas, the son of Joachaz, in Bethsames, and brought him to Jerusalem: and broke down the walls thereof from the gate of Ephraim, to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.

And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels, that he found in the house of God, and with Obededom, and in the treasures of the king's house, moreover also the sons of the hostages, he brought back to Samaria.

And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived, after the death of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel, fifteen years.

Now the rest of the acts of Amasias, the first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

And after he revolted from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled into Lachis, and they sent, and killed him there.

And they brought him back upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of David.

And all the people of Juda took his son Ozias, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of Amasias his father.

He built Ailath, and restored it to the dominion of Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers.

Ozias was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Jechelia of Jerusalem.

And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Amasias his father had done.

And he sought the Lord in the days of Zacharias that understood and saw God: and as long as he sought the Lord, he directed him in all things.

Moreover he went forth and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Geth, and the wall of Jabnia, and the wall of Azotus: and he built towns in Azotus, and among the Philistines.

And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians, that dwelt in Gurbaal, and against the Ammonites.

And the Ammonites gave gifts to Ozias: and his name was spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt for his frequent victories.

And Ozias built towers in Jerusalem over the gate of the corner, and over the gate of the valley, and the rest, in the same side of the wall, and fortified them.

And he built towers in the wilderness, and dug many cisterns, for he had much cattle both in the plains, and in the waste of the desert: he had also vineyards and dressers of vines in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he was a man that loved husbandry.

And the army of his fighting men, that went out to war, was under the hand of Jehiel the scribe, and Maasias the doctor, and under the hand of Henanias, who was one of the king's captains.

And the whole number of the chiefs by the families of valiant men were two thousand six hundred.