Discovery Box2 Chronicles 25:1-9
Context25:1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. 1 His mother was Jehoaddan, who was from Jerusalem. 25:2 He did what the Lord approved, 2 but not with wholehearted devotion. 3
25:3 When he had secured control of the kingdom, 4 he executed the servants who had assassinated his father. 5 25:4 However, he did not execute their sons. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, 6 “Fathers must not be executed for what their sons do, 7 and sons must not be executed for what their fathers do. 8 A man must be executed only for his own sin.” 9
25:5 Amaziah assembled the people of Judah 10 and assigned them by families to the commanders of units of a thousand and the commanders of units of a hundred for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and up and discovered there were 300,000 young men of fighting age 11 equipped with spears and shields. 12 25:6 He hired 100,000 Israelite warriors for a hundred talents 13 of silver.
25:7 But a prophet 14 visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. 15 25:8 Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will defeat you 16 before the enemy. God is capable of helping or defeating.” 17 25:9 Amaziah asked the prophet: 18 “But what should I do about the hundred talents of silver I paid the Israelite troops?” The prophet 19 replied, “The Lord is capable of giving you more than that.”
[25:1] 1 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[25:2] 2 tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the
[25:2] 3 tn Heb “a complete heart.”
[25:3] 4 tn Heb “when the kingdom was secure upon him.”
[25:3] 5 tn Heb “he killed his servants, the ones who had struck down the king, his father.”
[25:4] 6 tn Heb “as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which the
[25:4] 7 tn Heb “on account of sons.”
[25:4] 8 tn Heb “on account of fathers.”
[25:4] 9 sn This law is recorded in Deut 24:16.
[25:5] 10 tn Heb “Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy here for the people of Judah.
[25:5] 11 tn Heb “young men going out to war.”
[25:5] 12 tn Heb “holding a spear and a shield.”
[25:6] 13 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the silver was 6,730 lbs. (3,060 kg).
[25:7] 14 tn Heb “man of God.”
[25:7] 15 tn Heb “Israel, all the sons of Ephraim.”
[25:8] 16 tn Heb “cause you to stumble.”
[25:8] 17 tn Heb “to cause to stumble.”
