2 Kings 16

Ahaz Reigns in Judahⓘ

Ahaz's evil reign begins¹In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah. ²Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire,^a according to the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ⁴And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Ahaz appeals to Assyria⁵Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.

⁶At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath^b for Aram,^c drove out the men of Judah, and sent the Edomites into Elath, where they live to this day.

⁷✦So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”

⁸✦Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the kingʼs palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹✦So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.

The Idolatry of Ahazⓘ

Ahaz copies a Damascus altar¹⁰Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. On seeing the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction. ¹¹And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it before King Ahaz had returned.

¹²When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it. ¹³He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splattered the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴He also took the bronze altar that stood before the Lord from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the Lord) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the kingʼs burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Sprlatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”

¹⁶So Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded.

¹⁷King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base. ¹⁸And on account of the king of Assyria, he removed the Sabbath canopy^d they had built in the temple and closed the royal entryway outside the house of the Lord.

Ahaz's death¹⁹As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁰And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.