2 Kings 16

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, began Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah to reign.

When Pekah had been ruling Israel for almost 17 years, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, became the king of Judah.

2 Twenty years old, was Ahaz when he began to reign, and, sixteen years, reigned he in Jerusalem. And he did not that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh his God, like David his father;

He was 20 years old when he became the king [of Judah]. He ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years. He did not do things that pleased Yahweh his God, good things like his ancestor King David had done.

3 but walked in the way of the kings of Israel, —moreover also, me made, his son, pass through the fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations, whom Yahweh dispossessed from before the sons of Israel;

Instead, he was as sinful as the kings of Israel had been. He even sacrificed his son as an offering to idols. That was worse than the disgusting things that the people who previously lived there had done, people whom Yahweh had expelled as the Israelis were advancing through the land.

4 and he offered sacrifice and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, —and under every green tree.

Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense [to honor Yahweh] on the tops of many hills and under many [HYP] big trees, [instead of in Jerusalem as Yahweh had commanded].

5 then, came up Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to make war, —and they laid siege against Ahaz, but could not overcome [him].

While he was the king of Judah, King Rezin of Assyria and King Pekah of Israel [came with their armies] and attacked Jerusalem. They surrounded the city, but they could not conquer it.

6 At that time, Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath, to Syria, and wholly cleared out the Jews from Eloth, —and, the Syrians, entered Elath, and have dwelt there, unto this day.

At that time the [army of the] king of Edom expelled the people of Judah who were living in Elath [city]. Some of the people of Edom started to live there, and they are still living there.

7 So Ahaz sent messengers unto Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, Thy servant and thy son, I am, —Come up and save me, out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.

King Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, to tell this message to him: “I promise that I will completely do what you tell me to do, [as though] I [was] your son. Please come and rescue us from the armies of Syria and Israel who are attacking my country.”

8 And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasuries of the house of the king, —and sent them to the king of Assyria, as a bribe.

Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the palace and in the temple and sent it to Assyria to be a present/gift for the king of Assyria.

9 So the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, and the king of Assyria came up unto Damascus, and seized it, and carried away the people thereof captive to Kir, —and put Rezin, to death.

So Tiglath-Pileser did what Ahaz requested. His army marched to Damascus and captured it, and they took the people of Damascus as prisoners to live in the capital city of Assyria, and executed [King] Rezin.

10 So then King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, in Damascus, and saw the altar which was in Damascus, —and King Ahaz, sent unto Urijah the priest, a likeness of the altar, and a model thereof, according to all the workmanship thereof;

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-Pileser, he saw the altar that was there. So he sent to Uriah, the Supreme Priest [in Jerusalem], a drawing of the altar and a model that was exactly like the altar in Damascus.

11 and Urijah the priest built an altar, —according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus, so, did Urijah the priest make it, by the time King Ahaz came from Damascus.

So Uriah built an altar [in Jerusalem], following the drawing that King Ahaz had sent. Uriah finished the altar before Ahaz returned [to Jerusalem] from Damascus.

12 And, when the king came from Damascus, then the king saw the altar, —so the king drew near unto the altar, and caused offerings to ascend thereupon.

When the king returned from Damascus, he saw the altar. He went to it

13 And he made perfume with his ascending-sacrifice, and with his meal-offering, and poured out his drink-offering, —and dashed the blood of the peace-offerings which he had, upon the altar.

and burned animal sacrifices and a grain offering on it. He also poured a wine offering on it and threw on it the blood of the offerings to maintain fellowship with God.

14 And, the altar of bronze which was before Yahweh, he brought away from the forefront of the house, from between the altar, and the house of Yahweh, —and put it at the side of the altar northward.

The old bronze altar which had been dedicated long ago to Yahweh was between the new altar and the temple, so Ahaz moved it to the north side of his new altar, [which was bigger than the old altar].

15 And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying—Upon the great altar, make thou perfume with the ascending-sacrifice of the morning, and with the meal-offering of the evening, and with the ascending-sacrifice of the king and with his meal-offering, and with the ascending-sacrifice of all the people of the land, and their meal-offering and their drink-offering, and, all the blood of the ascending-offering, and all the blood of the [peace] offering, thereupon, shalt thou dash, —but, the altar of bronze, shall be for me to inquire [into].

Then King Ahaz ordered Uriah: “Each morning put on this new altar the sacrifices that will be completely burned, and in the evening put on it the grain offering, along with my offering and the offerings that the people bring, ones that will be completely burned, and my grain offering and the people’s grain and wine offerings. Pour against the sides of the altar the blood of all the animals that are sacrificed. But the old bronze altar will be only for me to use to find out what Yahweh wants me to do.”

16 So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

So Uriah did what the king commanded him to do.

17 And King Ahaz cut off the side walls of the stands, and took away from off them the laver, and, the sea, took he down from off the oxen of bronze, which were under it, —and set it on a pavement of stones.

King Ahaz told his workers to take off the frames of the carts [that were outside the temple] and to take down the basins that were on them. They also took down the bronze tank from the backs of the bronze [statues of the] oxen and put it on a stone foundation.

18 Also, the covered walk for the Sabbath, which they had built in the house, and the outer entrance for the king, he changed in the house of Yahweh, —because of the king of Assyria.

Then to please the king of Assyria, Ahaz had them remove from the temple the roof under which the people walked into the temple on the Sabbath Day, and closed up the private entrance into the temple for the kings of Judah.

19 Now, the rest of the story of Ahaz, what he did, is, it, not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

[If you want to know about] the other things that Ahaz did, they are written [RHQ] in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers, in the city of David, —and, Hezekiah his son, reigned, in his stead.

Ahaz died [EUP], and he was buried in [the part of Jerusalem called] ‘The City of David’, where his ancestors had been buried. Then his son Hezekiah became the king.