2 Even though Amaziah obeyed the Lord by doing right, he refused to be completely faithful.
3 For example, as soon as he had control of Judah, he arrested and killed the officers who had murdered his father.
4 But the children of those officers were not killed; the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses that only the people who sinned were to be punished.
5 Amaziah sent a message to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and called together all the men who were twenty years old and older. Three hundred thousand men went to Jerusalem, all of them ready for battle and able to fight with spears and shields. Amaziah grouped these soldiers according to their clans and put them under the command of his army officers.
6 Amaziah also paid about three thousand four hundred kilogrammes of silver to hire one hundred thousand soldiers from Israel.
7 One of God's prophets said, “Your Majesty, don't let these Israelite soldiers march into battle with you. The Lord has refused to help anyone from the northern kingdom of Israel,
8 and so he will let your enemies defeat you, even if you fight hard. He is the one who brings both victory and defeat.”