2 ChroniclesChapter 28

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¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem sixteen years. He was not like his father David. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. ²Instead, he lived the way the kings of Israel did. He even made metal idols of the Baals. ³Ahaz also burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He burned his sons in the fire as sacrifices. He did the disgusting things of the nations the LORD had driven out in front of the Israelites. ⁴He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. He did it on the hills and under every green tree. ⁵So the LORD his God handed Ahaz over to the king of Aram. The king of Aram beat him and took many people as captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel. That king beat him badly. ⁶In one day, Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 brave men in Judah. This happened because they had turned away from the LORD, the God of their fathers. ⁷Zichri was a mighty warrior from Ephraim. He killed Maaseiah the king's son. He killed Azrikam, who was in charge of the palace. And he killed Elkanah, who was second to the king. ⁸The Israelites took 200,000 of their own relatives as captives. They took women, sons, and daughters. They also took a lot of goods and brought them to Samaria. ⁹But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army as it came back to Samaria. He said to them, "Look! The LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah. So he handed them over to you. But you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰And now you plan to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren't you guilty too, before the LORD your God? ¹¹So listen to me now. Send back the captives you took from your own relatives, because the LORD's fierce anger is on you." ¹²Then some of the leaders of Ephraim stood up against those coming back from the war. They were Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai. ¹³They said, "You must not bring the captives here. You want to bring guilt on us before the LORD. You want to add to our sins and our guilt. Our guilt is already great, and fierce anger is on Israel." ¹⁴So the soldiers left the captives and the goods in front of the leaders and all the people. ¹⁵Then the men who had been named got up and took charge of the captives. From the goods they had taken, they gave clothes to those who had none. They dressed them and gave them sandals. They gave them food and drink. They put oil on their wounds. They put all the weak ones on donkeys. They took them to their relatives in Jericho, the City of Palm Trees. Then they went back to Samaria. ¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help. ¹⁷The Edomites had come again and attacked Judah. They had carried people away as captives. ¹⁸The Philistines had also attacked the towns in the foothills and in the Negev of Judah. They captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth and settled there. They also took Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, and the villages around them. ¹⁹The LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel. Ahaz had let Judah run wild. He had been very unfaithful to the LORD. ²⁰Then Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz. But he gave him trouble instead of help. ²¹Ahaz took some things from the house of the LORD, from the royal palace, and from the princes. He gave them to the king of Assyria. But it did not help him. ²²In his time of trouble, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. ²³He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had beaten him. He said, "The gods of the kings of Aram have helped them. So I will sacrifice to them, so they will help me." But these gods led to the ruin of Ahaz and of all Israel. ²⁴Ahaz gathered up the things in the house of God and cut them to pieces. He shut the doors of the house of the LORD. He set up altars for himself on every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵In every city of Judah he built high places to burn incense to other gods. So he made the LORD, the God of his fathers, angry. ²⁶The rest of what Ahaz did and all the ways he lived, from first to last, are written down. They are in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷Ahaz died and joined his fathers. He was buried in the city of Jerusalem. But he was not put in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah became king after him.