2 KingsChapter 16
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1Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah. This was in the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah. 2Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his ancestor David had done. 3Instead, he followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire. He copied the disgusting practices of the nations that the LORD had driven out ahead of the Israelites. 4He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to make war on Jerusalem. They surrounded Ahaz and attacked, but they could not defeat him. 6At that time Rezin king of Aram took back Elath for Aram. He drove out the men of Judah. He sent the Edomites into Elath. They still live there today. 7So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. He said, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the kings of Aram and Israel. They are attacking me." 8Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasure rooms of the king's palace. He sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. 9So the king of Assyria did what Ahaz asked. He marched up to Damascus and captured it. He carried its people away to Kir as prisoners. And he put Rezin to death. 10Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. There King Ahaz saw an altar. He sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar. He also sent full plans for building it. 11So Uriah the priest built an altar. He followed all the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He finished it before King Ahaz came back. 12When the king came back from Damascus, he saw the altar. He went up to it and offered gifts on it. 13He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering. He poured out his drink offering. He splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14The bronze altar that stood before the LORD was in front of the temple. It stood between the new altar and the house of the LORD. Ahaz moved it and put it on the north side of the new altar. 15Then King Ahaz gave orders to Uriah the priest. "Use the great altar to offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering," he said. "Offer the king's burnt offering and grain offering on it. Offer the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land on it too. Splash all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices on this altar. But I will use the bronze altar to ask for guidance." 16So Uriah the priest did just what King Ahaz ordered. 17King Ahaz also cut off the side panels of the bronze stands on wheels. He removed the bronze basin from each one. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that held it up. He set it on a stone base. 18Because of the king of Assyria, he also took away the covered place for the Sabbath that had been built in the temple. And he closed the king's outside entrance to the house of the LORD. 19The rest of what Ahaz did, and all he achieved, is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. 20Ahaz died and joined his ancestors. He was buried with them in the City of David. His son Hezekiah became king in his place.