Ahaz Reigns in Judah

2 Kings 16

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was y twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. z He even burned his son as an offering, 1 a according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 b And he sacrificed and made offerings c on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

5 d Then Rezin king of Syria and d Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz e but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered f Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from f Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7 g So Ahaz sent messengers to h Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." 8 Ahaz also i took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 j And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus k and took it, carrying its people captive to l Kir, and he killed Rezin.

10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet m Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to n Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. o Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And p the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed q from the front of the house, from the place between r his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of r his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn s the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but t the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down u the sea 2 from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written v in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and w was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings 17

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, x Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 y Against him came up z Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

  1. Cross References
    2 Kings 16:2 - 4
    Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.
    2 Chronicles 28:1 - 4
    Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 106:37 - 38
    They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.
    Leviticus 18:21
    You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
  3. Cross References
    2 Kings 21:2
    And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
    Deuteronomy 12:31
    You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
    Deuteronomy 18:9
    When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.
  4. Cross References
    2 Kings 14:4
    But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
  5. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:2
    You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
    1 Kings 14:23
    For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.
  6. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:37
    In those days the Lord began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
  7. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:37
    In those days the Lord began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
  8. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:5 - 6
    Therefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.
  9. Cross References
    2 Kings 14:22
    He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.
  10. Cross References
    2 Kings 14:22
    He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.
  11. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:16
    At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help.
  12. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:29
    In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.
  13. Cross References
    2 Kings 12:18
    Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.
  14. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:21
    For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.
  15. Cross References
    Amos 1:5
    I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the Lord.
  16. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:6
    And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
    Amos 1:5
    I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the Lord.
    Amos 9:7
    Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?" declares the Lord. "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
  17. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:29
    In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.
  18. Cross References
    Isaiah 8:2
    And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.
  19. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 26:16 - 19
    But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
  20. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 4:1
    He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.
  21. Cross References
    Exodus 40:6
    You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
    Exodus 40:29
    And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
  22. Cross References
    2 Kings 16:11
    And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.
  23. Cross References
    2 Kings 16:11
    And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.
  24. Cross References
    Exodus 29:39 - 41
    One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.
  25. Cross References
    2 Kings 16:14
    And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.
  26. Cross References
    1 Kings 7:23
    Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
    1 Kings 7:25
    It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.
  27. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:26
    Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
  28. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:27
    And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
  29. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:30
    Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
  30. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:3 - 7
    Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.
    2 Kings 18:9 - 12
    In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
  31. Cross References
    Hosea 10:14
    Therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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