141 In the second year of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. 3 He lived the way God wanted and did the right thing. But he didn't come up to the standards of his ancestor David; instead he lived pretty much as his father Joash had; 4 the local sex-and-religion shrines continued to stay in business with people frequenting them. 5 When he had the affairs of the kingdom well in hand, he executed the palace guard that had assassinated his father the king. 6 But he didn't kill the sons of the assassins. He was obedient to what God commanded, written in the Word revealed to Moses, that parents shouldn't be executed for their children's sins, nor children for those of their parents. We each pay personally for our sins.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Kings 14:1-6
Commentary on 2 Kings 14:1-7
(Read 2 Kings 14:1-7)
Amaziah began well, but did not go on so. It is not enough to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely to keep up the common usage, but we must do it as they did, from the same principle of faith and devotion, and with the same sincerity and resolution.