^16:10When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there.²⁰ King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.²¹^16:11Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus.²² Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus.²³^16:12When the king arrived back from Damascus and²⁴ saw the altar, he approached it²⁵ and offered a sacrifice on it.²⁶^16:13He offered his burnt sacrifice and his grain offering. He poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood from his peace offerings on the altar. ^16:14He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new²⁷ altar. ^16:15King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar²⁸ offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.”²⁹^16:16So Uriah the priest did exactly as³⁰ King Ahaz ordered.

^16:17King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took “The Sea”³¹ down from the bronze bulls that supported it³² and put it on the pavement. ^16:18He also removed the Sabbath awning³³ that had been built³⁴ in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria.³⁵

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Footnotes

20 Heb “in Damascus.”
21 Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”
22 Heb “according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus.”
23 Heb “so Uriah the priest did, until the arrival of King Ahaz from Damascus.”
24 Heb “and the king.”
25 Heb “the altar.”
26 Or “ascended it.”
27 The word “new” is added in the translation for clarification.
28 That is, the newly constructed altar.
29 Heb “for me to seek.” The precise meaning of בָּקַר (baqar), “seek,” is uncertain in this context. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
30 Heb “according to all which.”
31 See the note at .
32 Heb “that [were] under it.”
33 The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מוּסַךְ (musakh; Qere) / מִיסַךְ (misakh; Kethib) is uncertain. For discussion see מוּסַךְ and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .
34 Heb “that they built.”
35 It is doubtful that Tiglath-pileser ordered these architectural changes. Ahaz probably made these changes so he could send some of the items and materials to the Assyrian king as tribute. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), , .