1. Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah in the second year of Jehoash's rule in Israel.
2. Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years from Jerusalem, which was also the home town of his mother Jehoaddin.
3. Amaziah followed the example of his father Joash by obeying the Lord and doing right. But he was not as faithful as his ancestor David.
4. Amaziah did not destroy the local shrines, and they were still used as places for offering sacrifices.
5. As soon as Amaziah had control of Judah, he arrested and killed the officers who had murdered his father.
6. 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, not their parents or children.
7. While Amaziah was king, he killed ten thousand Edomite soldiers in Salt Valley. He captured the town of Sela and renamed it Joktheel, which is still its name.