2 Kings 16

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

In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah: Ahaz, the son of Jotham, reigned as king of Judah.

2 Ahaz [is] a son of twenty years in his reigning, and he has reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and he has not done that which [is] right in the eyes of his God YHWH, like his father David,

Ahaz was twenty years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, his God, as his father David did.

3 and he walks in the way of the kings of Israel, and he has also caused his son to pass over into fire, according to the abominations of the nations that YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel,

Instead, he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Moreover, he even consecrated his son, making him pass through fire, in accord with the idols of the nations that the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

4 and he sacrifices and makes incense in high places, and on the heights, and under every green tree.

Also, he was immolating victims, and burning incense, in the high places, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, go up to Jerusalem, to battle, and they lay siege to Ahaz, and they have not been able to fight.

Then Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, ascended to do battle against Jerusalem. And they besieged Ahaz, but they were not able to overcome him.

6 At that time Rezin king of Aram has brought back Elath to Aram, and casts out the Jews from Elath, and the Arameans have come to Elath, and dwell there to this day.

At that time, Rezin, the king of Syria, restored Elath to Syria, and he expelled the Judeans from Elath. And the Idumeans went into Elath, and they have lived there, even to this day.

7 And Ahaz sends messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Asshur, saying, “I [am] your servant and your son; come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”

Then Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, the king of the Assyrians, saying: “I am your servant, and I am your son. Ascend and accomplish my salvation from the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up together against me.”

8 And Ahaz takes the silver and the gold that is found in the house of YHWH, and in the treasures of the house of the king, and sends to the king of Asshur [as] a bribe.

And when he had collected the silver and the gold that could be found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king, he sent it as a gift to the king of the Assyrians.

9 And the king of Asshur listens to him, and the king of Asshur goes up to Damascus, and seizes it, and removes [the people of] it to Kir, and he has put Rezin to death.

And he agreed to his will. For the king of the Assyrians ascended against Damascus, and he laid waste to it. And he carried away its inhabitants to Cyrene. But Rezin he killed.

10 And King Ahaz goes to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Asshur [at] Damascus, and sees the altar that [is] in Damascus, and King Ahaz sends to Urijah the priest the likeness of the altar, and its pattern, according to all its work,

And king Ahaz traveled to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, the king of the Assyrians. And when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Ahaz sent to Uriah, the priest, its pattern and likeness, according to all of its work.

11 and Urijah the priest builds the altar according to all that King Ahaz has sent from Damascus; so Urijah the priest did until the coming in of King Ahaz from Damascus.

And Uriah, the priest, constructed an altar in accord with all that king Ahaz had commanded from Damascus. Uriah, the priest, did so, until king Ahaz arrived from Damascus.

12 And the king comes in from Damascus, and the king sees the altar, and the king draws near on the altar, and offers on it,

And when the king had arrived from Damascus, he saw the altar, and he venerated it. And he went up and immolated holocausts, with his own sacrifice.

13 and burns his burnt-offering and his present as incense, and pours out his drink-offering, and sprinkles the blood of the peace-offerings that he has, on the altar.

And he offered libations, and he poured out the blood of the peace offerings, which he had offered, upon the altar.

14 As for the altar of bronze that [is] before YHWH—he brings [it] near from the front of the house, from between the altar and the house of YHWH, and puts it on the side of the altar, northward.

But the altar of brass, which was before the Lord, he took away from the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar, and from the place of the temple of the Lord. And he positioned it at the side of the altar, toward the north.

15 And King Ahaz commands him—Urijah the priest—saying, “On the great altar burn as incense the burnt-offering of the morning, and the present of the evening, and the burnt-offering of the king, and his present, and the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their present, and their drink-offerings; and all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice, you sprinkle on it, and the altar of bronze is for me to inquire [by].”

Also, king Ahaz instructed Uriah, the priest, saying: “Upon the great altar, offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and the holocaust of the king, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the entire people of the land, and their sacrifices. But their libations, and all the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim, you shall pour out upon it. Then truly, the altar of brass shall be prepared for use at my will.”

16 And Urijah the priest does according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

And so Uriah, the priest, acted in accord with all that king Ahaz had instructed to him.

17 And King Ahaz cuts off the borders of the bases, and turns aside the laver from off them, and he has taken down the sea from off the bronze oxen that [are] under it, and puts it on a pavement of stones.

Then king Ahaz took away the engraved bases, and the basin that was upon them. And he took down the sea from the bronze oxen, which were holding it up. And he positioned it upon a layer of pavement stone.

18 And the covered place for the Sabbath that they built in the house, and the entrance of the king outside, he turned [from] the house of YHWH, because of the king of Asshur.

Also, the canopy for the Sabbath, which he had built in the temple, and the exterior entrance of the king, he converted into the temple of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.

19 And the rest of the matters of Ahaz that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Now the rest of the words of Ahaz that he did, have these not been written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

20 And Ahaz lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigns in his stead.

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the city of David. And Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place.