2 Kings
Chapter 16
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, Ahaz, son of Jotham and king of Judah, started his rule.
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of God, unlike his ancestor David.
3 He followed the path of Israel’s kings and even burned his son in the fire, just like the hateful practices of the nations that God had driven out before the Israelites.
4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah and king of Israel, attacked Jerusalem to fight, and they surrounded Ahaz, but they could not defeat him.
6 At that time, Rezin, the king of Syria, took back Elath for Syria and forced the Jews out of Elath. Then the Syrians moved into Elath and have lived there ever since.
7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglathpileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come and save me from the king of Syria and the king of Israel who are attacking me.”
8 Ahaz took the silver and gold from God’s house and the king’s treasures and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.
9 The king of Assyria listened to him: because the king of Assyria attacked Damascus, captured it, took its people as prisoners to Kir, and killed Rezin.
10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglathpileser of Assyria and saw an altar there. Ahaz sent Priest Urijah a model of the altar, showing how it was made.
11 Priest Urijah built an altar just like King Ahaz ordered from Damascus, and he finished it before King Ahaz returned from there.
12 When the king returned from Damascus, he saw the altar. The king went up to the altar and made an offering on it.
13 He burned his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the peace offerings’ blood on the altar.
14 He moved the bronze altar that was in front of God, from the front of the temple, from between the altar and the temple of God, and placed it on the north side of the altar.
15 King Ahaz told Priest Urijah, “On the big altar, burn the morning offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, with all the people’s burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings. Put all the blood of the burnt offerings and other sacrifices on it. I will use the bronze altar for asking God for guidance.”
16 Urijah the priest did everything that King Ahaz ordered.
17 King Ahaz removed the edges of the stands, took the basin off them, and took the large bowl off the bronze bulls that were under it, and set it down on a stone floor.
18 He changed the temple’s shelter for the Sabbath and the king’s outer entrance for the king of Assyria.
19 The other things Ahaz did are written in the book of the history of Judah’s kings, aren’t they?
20 Ahaz died like his ancestors and was buried with them in David’s city; his son Hezekiah became king after him.