Amaziah was the king. He assumed the throne at the age of 25, and he was in power for 29 years. He wasn’t wholehearted, but he wasn’t horrible. His dad had been assassinated by a couple of dudes named Zabad and Jehozabad (let the reader observe …both names end in “bad”). When Amaziah became king, he killed these dudes, but he let their children live; so that’s good.

Then Amaziah mustered and mobilized his army for war against the Edomites. He had 300,000 warriors, and he thought it would be a good idea to hire an additional 100,000 soldiers from a neighboring country. But a man of God came to Amaziah and said, “This neighboring nation ain’t no good. You should not involve them.” Amaziah said, “But I’ve already paid for them.” The man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” So Amaziah told the 100k troops from the nasty nation to go home, and they chose to be very offended and petulant, and they raided a bunch of cities in Amaziah’s country and murdered 3,000 civilians. But Amaziah took courage and led out his army of 300k against the forces of Edom, and Amaziah’s team won! Amaziah’s warriors captured 10,000 Edomites and took them to the top of a crag and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces! …so that happened.

After beating Edom, Amaziah decided to worship some of their gods. So a prophet came to Amaziah and asked, “Why have you committed adultery on The Maker by whoring yourself to the demons of Edom?”

And Amaziah chose to be very offended and petulant, and he threatened to kill the prophet.

The prophet said, “Wow. Ok, since you reject my counsel, then that means God is determined to destroy you. You’re acting like a child of destruction. It’s like you want to be destroyed.”

So Amaziah went and picked a fight with a very dangerous fellow who did indeed destroy Amaziah! Amaziah was like a thistle, and this other fella was like a cedar tree.

After suffering this humiliating defeat some people conspired against Amaziah, and he fled for his life, but the conspirators pursued him and caught him and killed him.

That’s the story of King Amaziah.