II Kings

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

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was pleasing to the ETERNAL his God, as his forefather David had done,

but followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He even consigned his son to the fire, in the abhorrent fashion of the nations that GOD had dispossessed before the Israelites.

He sacrificed and made offerings at the shrines, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel advanced on Jerusalem for battle. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome [him].

At that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram;aAram Emendation yields “Edom.” he drove out the Judahites from Elath, and Edomites came to Elath and settled there, as is still the case.

Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria to say, “I am your servant and your son; come and deliver me from the hands of the king of Aram and from the hands of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”

Ahaz took the gold and silver that were on hand in the House of GOD and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria.

The king of Assyria responded to his request; the king of Assyria marched against Damascus and captured it. He deported its inhabitantsbits inhabitants Heb. “it.” to Kir and put Rezin to death.

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to greet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar in Damascus. King Ahaz sent the priest Uriah a sketch of the altar and a detailed plan of its construction.

The priest Uriah did just as King Ahaz had instructed him from Damascus; the priest Uriah built the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

When the king returned from Damascus, and when the king saw the altar, the king drew near the altar, ascended it,

and offered his burnt offering and grain offering; he poured his libation, and he dashed the blood of his offering of well-being against the altar.

As for the bronze altar that had been before GOD, he moved it from its place in front of the temple, between the [new] altar and the House of GOD,cbetween the [new] altar and the House of GOD Meaning of Heb. uncertain. and placed it on the north side of the [new] altar.

And King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah: “On the great altardthe great altar I.e., the new one. you shall offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offerings of all the people of the land, their grain offerings and their libations. And against it you shall dash the blood of all the burnt offerings and all the blood of the sacrifices. And I will decide about the bronze altar.”ethe bronze altar I.e., the ol

Uriah did just as King Ahaz commanded.

King Ahaz cut off the insets—the laver stands—and removed the lavers from them. He also removed the tank from the bronze oxen that supported it and set it on a stone pavement—

on account of the king of Assyria.fon account of the king of Assyria I.e., because of the metal given him in tribute. He also extended to the House of GOD the sabbath passage that had been built in the palace and the king’s outer entrance.gthe sabbath passage … outer entrance Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

The other events of Ahaz’s reign, and his actions, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David; his son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.