2 Kings 16 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

Ahaz king of Judah

1 Ahaz began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the 17th year of the rule of Pekah, the son of Remaliah. Ahaz was the son of Jotham. 2 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 16 years. Ahaz didn’t do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God. He didn’t do what King David had done. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire to another god. He followed the practices of the nations. The LORD hated those practices. He had driven out those nations to make room for the Israelites. 4 Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. He also did it on the tops of hills and under every green tree. 5 Rezin and Pekah marched up to Jerusalem and surrounded it. Rezin was king of Aram. Pekah, the son of Remaliah, was king of Israel. They attacked Ahaz. But they couldn’t overpower him. 6 At that time Rezin, the king of Aram, won back Elath for Aram. He drove out the people of Judah. Then the people of Edom moved into Elath. And they still live there to this day. 7 Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser. He was king of Assyria. The message of Ahaz said, ‘I am your servant. You are my master. Come up and save me from the power of the kings of Aram and Israel. They are attacking me.’ 8 Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the LORD’s temple. He also took the silver and gold that were among the treasures in the royal palace. He sent all of it as a gift to the king of Assyria. 9 So the king of Assyria did what Ahaz asked him to do. He attacked the city of Damascus and captured it. He sent its people away to Kir. And he put Rezin to death. 10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus. He went there to see Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria. Ahaz saw an altar in Damascus. He sent a drawing of it to Uriah the priest. Ahaz also sent him plans for building it. 11 So Uriah the priest built an altar. He followed all the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He finished it before Ahaz returned. 12 The king came back from Damascus. When he saw the altar, he approached it. Then he offered sacrifices on it. 13 He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering. He poured out his drink offering. And he splashed the blood from his friendship offerings against the altar. 14 The bronze altar for burnt offerings stood in front of the LORD. It was between the new altar and the LORD’s temple. Ahaz took the bronze altar away from the front of the temple. He put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 Then King Ahaz gave orders to Uriah the priest. He said, ‘Offer sacrifices on the large new altar. Offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering. Offer my burnt offering and my grain offering. Offer the burnt offering of all the people of the land. Offer their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood from all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to look for advice and direction.’ 16 Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered. 17 Ahaz cut off the sides of the bronze stands. He removed the bowls from the stands. He removed the huge bowl from the bronze bulls it stood on. He placed the bowl on a stone base. 18 He took away the covered area that had been used on the Sabbath day. It had been built at the LORD’s temple. He removed the royal entrance that was outside the temple. Ahaz did all these things to honour the king of Assyria. 19 The other events of the rule of Ahaz are written down. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Judah. 20 Ahaz joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in the family tomb in the City of David. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became the next king after him.

English Standard Version

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, (2Ch 28:1) 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering,^[1] according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. (Le 18:21; De 12:31; De 18:9; 2Ki 21:2; Ps 106:37)

Le 18:21De 12:31De 18:92Ki 21:2Ps 106:37

4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. (De 12:2; 1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 14:4) 5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. (2Ki 15:37; 2Ch 28:5) 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. (2Ki 14:22) 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” (2Ki 15:29; 2Ch 28:16) 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. (2Ki 12:18) 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin. (2Ch 28:21; Isa 22:6; Am 1:5; Am 9:7)

2Ch 28:21Isa 22:6Am 1:5Am 9:7

10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. (2Ki 15:29; Isa 8:2) 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it (2Ch 26:16) 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. (Ex 40:6; Ex 40:29; 2Ki 16:11; 2Ch 4:1)

Ex 40:6Ex 40:292Ki 16:112Ch 4:1

15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” (Ex 29:39; 2Ki 16:14) 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded. 17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea^[2] from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. (1Ki 7:23; 1Ki 7:25) 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? (2Ch 28:26) 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 place. (2Ch 28:27)