2 Kings - Chapter 16

¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah.

² Ahaz was twenty years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what Yahweh his God regards as right, as his ancestor David had done.

³ He followed the example of the kings of Israel, even causing his son to pass through the fire of sacrifice, also copying the disgusting practices of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed for the Israelites.

⁴ He offered sacrifices and incense on the high places, on the hills and under every luxuriant tree.

⁵ Then it was that Razon king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, launched their campaign against Jerusalem. They besieged it but could not reduce it.

⁶ (At that time, the king of Edom recovered Elath for Edom; he drove the Judaeans out of Elath, and the Edomites occupied it and have been there ever since.)

⁷ Ahaz then sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria to say, 'I am your servant and your son. Come and rescue me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel who are making war on me.'

⁸ And Ahaz took what silver and gold was to be found in the Temple of Yahweh and in the palace treasury, and sent this as a present to the king of Assyria.

⁹ The king of Assyria granted his request and, marching on Damascus, captured it; he deported its population to Kir and put Razon to death.

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar which was in Damascus. King Ahaz then sent a picture and model of the altar, with details of its construction, to Uriah the priest.

¹¹ Uriah the priest constructed the altar; all the instructions sent by King Ahaz from Damascus were carried out by Uriah the priest before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

¹² When the king arrived from Damascus, he inspected the altar, he approached it and ascended it.

¹³ And on the altar he made his burnt offering and his oblation; he poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood of his communion sacrifices.

¹⁴ The altar which used to stand before Yahweh he removed from the front of the Temple, where it had stood between the new altar and the Temple of Yahweh, and placed it at the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵ King Ahaz gave this order to Uriah the priest, 'In future you will present the morning burnt offering, the evening oblation, the king's burnt offering and oblation, the burnt offering, the oblation and the libations of all the people of the country on the large altar; on it you will pour out all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. As regards the bronze altar, I shall see to that.'

¹⁶ Uriah the priest did everything that King Ahaz had ordered.

¹⁷ King Ahaz broke up the wheeled stands; removed the crosspieces and the basins from them, and took the bronze Sea off the oxen supporting it, and rested it on the stone pavement.

¹⁸ And from the Temple of Yahweh, in deference to the king of Assyria, he removed the dais for the throne which had been built inside, and the royal entrance on the outside.

¹⁹ The rest of the history of Ahaz, his entire career, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?

²⁰ Then Ahaz fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David; his son Hezekiah succeeded him.

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