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2 Kings 14

The chapter sets Amaziah’s costly pride beside YHWH’s compassion for afflicted Israel under an evil king.

Amaziah takes the throne of Judah and executes his father’s killers while sparing their children under the law of Moses. His victory over Edom leads to a challenge against Israel’s king, Jehoash, whose warning he refuses. Judah suffers defeat, and Jerusalem loses treasure and part of its wall. After recounting Amaziah’s death, the narrator turns to Jeroboam’s reign in Israel, where YHWH sees his people’s bitter distress and grants relief through a king who does evil.

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1In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign.
3He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done.
4However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
5As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father,
6but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as 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 die for his own sin.”
7He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.
8Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face.”
9Jehoash 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 your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.
10You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?”
11But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
12Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent.
13Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem, then broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
14He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, 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, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
16Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.
17Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.
18Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
19They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.
20They brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in David’s city.
21All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place 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 for forty-one years.
24He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.
25He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the LORD, the God of Israel’s word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher.
26For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter for all, slave and free; and there was no helper for Israel.
27The LORD didn’t say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; 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 fought, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
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Key verses
2 Kings 14:5Amaziah’s execution of his father’s killers establishes the setting for the legal restraint described in the next verse.
2 Kings 14:6The law of Moses limits Amaziah’s punishment, protecting the murderers’ children from execution for their fathers’ crime.
2 Kings 14:25Israel’s restored borders fulfill YHWH’s word through Jonah, even though Jeroboam’s reign receives a clear verdict of evil.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy contains the law against executing children for their fathers’ sins, while 2 Chronicles recounts Amaziah’s war with Israel and his defeat. The book of Jonah shares the prophet named here, Jonah son of Amittai, though the border prophecy itself is not recorded there.

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After reading the whole chapter

What stands out about Amaziah’s respect for the law and his refusal to heed Jehoash’s warning?

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How does the account distinguish Jeroboam’s evil from YHWH’s reasons for helping Israel?

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Questions people ask about 2 Kings 14

What does the thistle and cedar story mean in 2 Kings 14?

Jehoash uses the thistle to portray Amaziah as a weaker king making a presumptuous demand of someone stronger. The passing animal crushes the thistle without a contest. Jehoash then explains his warning: Amaziah’s victory over Edom has inflated his pride, and challenging Israel will bring harm to Judah.

Is the Jonah in 2 Kings 14 the same Jonah from the book of Jonah?

Both books identify the prophet as Jonah son of Amittai, which supports identifying them as the same person. Here he comes from Gath Hepher and announces Israel’s restored borders. The book of Jonah concerns his mission to Nineveh; it does not record the prophecy mentioned in this chapter.

Why did God help Jeroboam II if he was evil?

The narrator says YHWH saw Israel’s bitter affliction and that Israel had no helper. He had not declared that he would blot out Israel’s name, so he saved the people through Jeroboam. The account keeps its judgment of the king’s evil alongside its explanation of God’s compassion.

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2 Kings · 25 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).