AMASIAS (Heb. ʿAṭṭāṣa «Yahweh Fortifies»; Septuagint: ʿAṭṭāṣa). - Two biblical figures.
1. - King of Judah (c. 797-789), son of Joash, whom he succeeded at the age of 25. He avenged the killing of his father with clemency in accordance with Deut. 24:16, sparing the sons of the conspirators.
Following the struggle against Hazael, king of Syria, which his father had lost, the people and the army were exhausted. A. reorganized the troops (300,000 armed men of Judah and Benjamin) and moved against the Edomites, who had rebelled after the death of Jehoshaphat (849 B.C.), and defeated them in the Valley of Salt, to the southeast of the Dead Sea, afterwards conquering Sela ("Petra"), their capital. He had hired 100,000 mercenaries from the kingdom of Israel, but, on the warning of a prophet, he sent them back (II Chron. 25:5-10).
This success emboldened A., who made war on Joash, king of Israel, who had also warned him with the parable of the thistle and the cedar (II Kings 14:9 ff.; II Chron. 25:18 f.). At Beth-shemesh A. was defeated and taken prisoner. Joash of Israel left the defeated king on the throne after plundering Jerusalem and tearing down part of the northern wall. The last years of A. passed ingloriously, until a conspiracy took his life at Lachish, where he had taken refuge. He received a royal burial; he was succeeded by his sixteen-year-old son Azariah (or Uzziah).
The length of A.'s reign is disputed: the 29 years assigned to him (II Kings 14:2; II Chron. 25:1) are variously reduced by exegetes, down to 9 years.
With regard to religion, A. at first was zealous for the purest Yahwism (IV Kings 14:3-6). But, after the success over Edom, he apostatized (II Chron. 25:14-16), establishing the Edomite deities in Jerusalem, deaf to the appeals of a prophet; he was punished for this with a tragic death (IV Kings 14:1-22; II Chron. 25:1-28).
2. - Priest of the sanctuary of Bethel under Jeroboam II (783-43), king of Israel. He hindered the ministry of Amos (v.), whom he forced to return to Judah. The prophet foretold for him grave divine punishments upon his family and death in a foreign land (Am. 7:10-17).