nd Kings _Chapter 16

In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

He was twenty years old when he ascended to the throne and reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. Unlike his father David who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God,

But he followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and did the detestable things of the foreigners whom the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites, causing his son to go through the fire,

And offer sacrifices and burn incense on the mounds, on the hills, under each green tree.

King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to attack Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they were unable to overcome him.

At that time, King Rezin of Aram returned Elath to Aram and drove the Jews out of Elath. The Arameans came to Elath and stayed there until today.

Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Now the kings of Aram and Israel are attacking me. Please come and rescue me from their hands.

Ahaz gave all the gold and silver in the temple of the Lord and the royal treasury to the king of Assyria as a gift.

The king of Assyria agreed to him and went up to attack Damascus, capturing the city, killing Rezin, and taking the residents captive to Kir.

King Ahaz went up to Damascus to meet King Tiglathpileser of Assyria. When he saw an altar in Damascus, he drew a pattern according to its size and style, and sent it to Uriah the priest.

The priest Uriah built an altar according to the design sent by King Ahaz from Damascus, before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

When the king returned from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached and offered sacrifices on the altar.

Burn burnt offerings, grain offerings, pour drink offerings, and sprinkle the blood of the peace offerings on the altar,

And he brought the bronze altar before the Lord from between the temple of the Lord and the new altar to the north of the new altar.

King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah, saying, The morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering of all the people of the land, the grain offering, and the drink offering shall be burned on the high altar. The blood of burnt offerings and peace offerings shall also be sprinkled on this altar, but I will use the bronze altar to inquire of the Lord.

And Uriah the priest did as King Ahaz had commanded him.

King Ahaz broke down the heart that was set on all sides of the basin seat, removed the basin from the seat, and removed the bronze sea from the bronze ox that carried it, and placed it on a paved ground.

And because of the king of Assyria, he moved the portico that the Lord’s house had built for the Sabbath, and the portico that the king had entered from outside, around the Lord’s house.

The rest of Ahaz’s actions are written in the book of the kings of Judah.

Ahaz slept with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.