AMASIA (Heb. ʿAṭṭāṣa "Jahweh 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 his father's
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 from Judah and Benjamin) and marched against the Edomites, who had rebelled after the death of Jehoshaphat (849 B.C.), defeating them in the Valley of Salt, southeast of the Dead Sea, and subsequently capturing Sela' ("Petra"), their capital. He had hired 100,000 mercenaries from the kingdom of Israel, but, upon the warning of a prophet, he sent them back (II Chron. 25:5-10).
This success emboldened A., who waged war against Joash, king of Israel, who had likewise 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 upon the throne after plundering Jerusalem and tearing down a portion of the northern wall. A.'s final years were inglorious, until a conspiracy took his life at Lachish, where he had fled. He was given royal burial and was succeeded by his sixteen-year-old son Azariah (or Uzziah).
The length of A.'s reign is controversial: the 29 years assigned to him (II Kings 14:2; II Chron. 25:1) are variously reduced by exegetes, down to 9 years.
Regarding religion, A. initially zealously practiced the purest Yahwism (II Kings 14:3-6). But after his success over Edom, he apostatized (II Chron. 25:14-16) by establishing Edomite deities in Jerusalem, remaining deaf to the reproaches of a prophet; he was punished for this with a tragic death (II Kings 14:1-22; II Chron. 25:1-28).
2. - Priest of the sanctuary of Bethel under Jeroboam II (783-43), king of Israel. CAMOS (v.), whom he forced to return to Judah. The prophet predicted severe divine punishments upon his family and his death in a foreign land (Amos 7:10-17).