2 Chronicles 28:16–23

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings^a of Assyria^z for help. ¹⁷The Edomites^a had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners,^{b 18}while the Philistines^c had raided towns in the foothills and in the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh, Aijalon^d and Gederoth,^e as well as Soko,^f Timnah^g and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages. ¹⁹The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel,^b for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful^h to the Lord. ²⁰Tiglath-Pileser^ci king of Assyria^j came to him, but he gave him trouble^k instead of help.^{l 21}Ahaz^m took some of the things from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace and from the officials and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.ⁿ

²²In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful^o to the Lord. ²³He offered sacrifices to the gods^p of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”^q But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.^r