2 Kings 16

International Standard Version

Ahaz Becomes King of Judah

16 During the seventeenth year of the reign of^[a] Remaliah’s son Pekah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king of Judah. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not practice what the Lord considered to be right, as had his ancestor David. ³ Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the Lord evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis. ⁴ Furthermore, Ahaz^[b] sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.

Ahaz Seeks Help from Assyria^(A)

⁵ Later, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem to attack it. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. ⁶ But at that time, King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, completely removing the Judeans from Elath. Then the Arameans returned to Elath and have remained there to this day. ⁷ So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, “I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the Lord’s Temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria, ⁹ so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.

King Ahaz Constructs a Pagan Altar^(B)

¹⁰ King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest. ¹¹ Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king returned from Damascus, as soon as he saw the altar, he^[c] approached it and offered sacrifices on it. ¹³ He presented a burnt offering, a meat offering, poured out a drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of a peace offering on his altar. ¹⁴ Then he took the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from in front of the Temple, moved it to the north side of his altar, ¹⁵ and issued these orders to Uriah the priest:

¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered. ¹⁷ Later, King Ahaz ordered the side panels removed from the bases, along with the washing bowls that had stood on top of the bases. He also removed the large bowl that was called the Sea from on top of the bronze bulls that supported it, and put it on a stone base. ¹⁸ Then Ahaz removed the covered walkway for use on the Sabbath that they had built in the Temple. Because of the king of Assyria, he also removed the outside entrance from the Lord’s Temple that had been built exclusively^[d] for the king.

¹⁹ Now the rest of Ahaz’s activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? ²⁰ Later, Ahaz died, as did^[e] his ancestors, and was buried alongside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.