2 Kings 16

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

In the seventeenth year of Phacee the son of Romelia reigned Achaz the son of Joatham king of Juda.

2 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.

Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord his God, as David his father.

3 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.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover he consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire according to the idols of the nations: which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

4 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].

He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 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.

Then Basin king of Syria, and Phacee son of Romelia king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to fight: and they besieged Achaz, but were not able to overcome him.

6 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.

At that time Rasin king of Syria restored Aila to Syria, and drove the men of Juda out of Aila: and the Edomites came into Aila, and dwelt there unto this day.

7 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.”

And Achaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians, saying: I am thy servant, and thy son: 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 risen up together against me.

8 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.

And when he had gathered together the silver and gold that could be found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures, he sent it for a present to the king of the Assyrians.

9 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.

And he agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians went up against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried away the inhabitants thereof to Cyrene, but Basin he slew.

10 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.

And king Achaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians, and when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Achaz sent to Urias the priest a pattern of it, and its likeness according to all the work thereof.

11 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.

And Urias the priest built an altar according to all that king Achaz had commanded from Damascus, so did Urias the priest, until king Achaz came from Damascus.

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

And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own sacrifice.

13 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.

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

14 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].

But the altar of brass that was before the Lord, he removed 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 set it at the side of the altar toward the north.

15 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.”

And king Achaz commanded Urias the priest saying: Upon the great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and the king’s holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libations: and all the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim thou shalt pour out upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure.

16 So Uriah did what the king commanded him to do.

So Urias the priest did according to all that king Achaz had commanded him.

17 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.

And king Achaz took away the graven bases, and the laver that was upon them: and he took down the sea from the brazen oxen that held it up, and put it upon a pavement of stone.

18 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.

The Musach also for the sabbath, which he had built in the temple: and the king’s entry from without he turned into the temple of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.

19 [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’.

Now the rest of the acts of Achaz, which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

20 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.

And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.