2 Kings 15:1–16:20
Series of Kings: Azariah (Uzziah) over Judah
1 aIn the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.
2 He was asixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was 1Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
3 He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
4 Only athe high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
5 aThe Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he blived in a separate house, 1while Jotham the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land.
6 Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
7 And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.
8 aIn the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.
9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
10 Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and astruck him before the people and 1killed him, and reigned in his place.
11 Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
12 This is athe word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was.
13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the athirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in bSamaria.
14 Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from aTirzah and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him and became king in his place.
15 Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
16 Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open to him; therefore he struck it and ripped up aall its women who were with child.
17 In the athirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria.
18 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
19 aPul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to bstrengthen the kingdom 1under his rule.
20 Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land.
21 Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
22 And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.
23 In athe fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.
24 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
25 Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in athe castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place.
26 Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
27 In athe fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, bPekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.
28 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, 1aTiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and 2captured Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and bhe carried them captive to Assyria.
30 And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
31 Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of 1Uzziah king of Judah became king.
33 aHe was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.
34 aHe did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
35 Only athe high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. bHe built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.
36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
37 In those days athe Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, aAhaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king.
2 aAhaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.
3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, aand even made his son pass through the fire, baccording to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had 1driven out from before the sons of Israel.
4 He asacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
5 Then aRezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, bbut could not 1overcome him.
6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered aElath for Aram, and cleared the Judeans out of 1Elath entirely; and the 2Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.
7 aSo Ahaz sent messengers to bTiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the 1hand of the king of Aram and from the 1hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”
8 aAhaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
9 aSo the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and bcaptured it, and carried the people of it away into exile to cKir, and put Rezin to death.
10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet aTiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to bUrijah the priest the 1pattern of the altar and its model, according to all its workmanship.
11 So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, 1before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.
12 When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; then athe king approached the altar and 1went up to it,
13 and 1burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
14 aThe bronze altar, which was before the Lord, 1he brought from the front of the house, from between bhis altar and the house of the Lord, and he put it on the north side of his altar.
15 Then King Ahaz 1commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar 2burn athe morning burnt offering and the evening meal offering and the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their meal offering and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But bthe bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”
16 So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.
17 Then King Ahaz acut off the borders of the stands, and removed the laver from them; he also btook down the sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone.
18 The covered way for the sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of the Lord because of the king of Assyria.
19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written ain the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
20 So aAhaz slept with his fathers, and bwas buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.