Amaziah meaning

Meaning

Yah Is Strong, Strength Of Yah

Etymology

From (1) the verb אמץ ('ames), to be or become strong, and (2) יה (yah), the name of the Lord.

Related names

• Via אמץ ('ames): Amoz, Amzi, Ozem

• Via יה (yah): See the 'browse by form' menu for a long list of yah-names.

There are four different men named Amaziah in the Bible. The most famous one is Amaziah, the son of Joash and Jehoaddin, and the mostly-righteous, eighth king of Judah (2 Kings 14:1).

King Amaziah hires an army from outside Judah, but sends them home again when a prophet rebukes him for it (2 Chronicles 25:7). With his native army he fights and conquers Edom in Beth-shemesh and his men mass-execute 10,000 Edomites by shoving them off a cliff. While this carnage is going on, the foreign army that was sent home returns, ransacks the cities of Judah and kills 3000 Jews.

Meanwhile king Amaziah takes a shine to the gods of the Edomites he just killed and forsakes YHWH who just gave him his victory. The Lord subsequently has him know that his time is up. Undeterred, king Amaziah asks king Jehoahaz (or Jehoash) of Israel for some face-time. That results in yet another war, in which Amaziah is captured and Jerusalem taken by Israel. Jerusalem's wall is severely damaged and king Jehoahaz walks off with all the gold and silver utensils of the Temple.

Amaziah remains in Jerusalem but spends his remaining years dodging conspiracies against him. Finally he flees to Lachish, where he dies at the hands of assassins.

Other men named Amaziah are:

• A descendant of Simeon, the second-born son of Jacob and Leah.
• The great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Levi (1 Chronicles 6:45).
• A false prophet at Bethel, who opposes Amos during the reign of king Jeroboam II (Amos 7:10). Amaziah tells Amos to buzz off because in Bethel he's doing the prophesying (= telling made-up tales for an income). Amos calmly informs him that he's not a prophet by trade; his business was crops and cattle, but the Lord interrupted his enterprise and sent him off delivering messages. And wouldn't Amaziah know; he has one just for him.

The name Amaziah consists of two elements. The first part comes from the verb אמץ ('ames), meaning to be or become strong:

The second part of the name Amaziah is the appellative יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh.

For a meaning of the name Amaziah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Is Strong, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Strength Of The Lord "i.e. made strong of the Lord," and BDB Theological Dictionary proposes Yah Has Been Mighty.