2 Kings 16

Ahaz King of Judah

16:1–20pp—2Ch 28:1–27

16In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz^e son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. ²Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right^f in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³He followed the ways of the kings of Israel^g and even sacrificed his son^h in the fire, engaging in the detestableⁱ practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ⁴He offered sacrifices and burned incense^j at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.^k

⁵Then Rezin^l king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. ⁶At that time, Rezin^m king of Aram recovered Elathⁿ for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day.

⁷Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser^o king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save^p me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift^q to the king of Assyria. ⁹The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus^r and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir^s and put Rezin to death.

¹⁰Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah^t the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. ¹¹So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. ¹²When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings^au on it. ¹³He offered up his burnt offering^v and grain offering,^w poured out his drink offering,^x and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings^y against the altar. ¹⁴As for the bronze altar^z that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning^a burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”^{b 16}And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

¹⁷King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base.^{c 18}He took away the Sabbath canopy^b that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.^d

¹⁹As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁰Ahaz rested^e with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.