2 Kings 16

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

Ahaz, son of Jotham, became king of Judah in the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah, son of Remaliah.

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.

Ahaz was twenty when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. But unlike David his forefather, he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God.

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.

He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and he even sacrificed his son in the fire, participating in the disgusting practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

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 and presented burnt offerings on 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.

Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came and attacked Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but couldn't defeat 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.

This was when Rezin, king of Aram, recovered Elath for Edom. He expelled the people of Judah, and sent Edomites to Elath, where they still live to 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.”

Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying, “I'm your servant, and your son. Please come and rescue me from the kings of Aram and Israel who are attacking 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.

Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Lord's Temple and from the treasuries of the king's palace, and he sent it to the king of Assyria as a gift.

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.

The king of Assyria responded positively to him. He went and attacked Damascus, and captured it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and executed Rezin.

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.

King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. During his visit he saw an altar in Damascus, and he sent Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar, along with instructions how to build it.

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.

So Uriah the priest built an altar following all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, completing it before King Ahaz returned.

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

When the king came back from Damascus he saw the altar. He went over to it and made offerings on it.

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.

He presented his burnt offering and his grain offering, he poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his friendship offerings on it.

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].

He also moved the bronze altar that stood before the Lord from the front of the Temple, between the new altar and the Lord's Temple, and he placed it to the north of the new altar.

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.”

Then King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest: “Use this new important altar to offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people, and their grain offerings and their drink offerings. Sprinkle on this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. The old bronze altar I'll use for divination.”

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

Uriah the priest followed King Ahaz's orders.

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.

King Ahaz also removed the frames of the movable carts, and also took out the bronze basin from each of them. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls it rested on and placed it on a stone pedestal.

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.

He took down the Sabbath canopy they had built in the Temple, as well as the king's outer entrance to the Lord's Temple. He did this to please the king of Assyria.

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’.

The rest of what happened in Ahaz's reign and all he did are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

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.

Ahaz died and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.