2 Chronicles 28

English Standard Version

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

28 ^(A)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, ²but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made ^(B)metal images for ^(C)the Baals, ³and ^(D)he made offerings in the ^(E)Valley of the Son of Hinnom and ^(F)burned his sons as an offering,^[a] according to ^(G)the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ⁴And he sacrificed and ^(H)made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Judah Defeated

⁵^(I)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. ⁶For ^(J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king.

⁸The men of Israel took captive 200,000 ^(K)of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^(L)was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage ^(M)that has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹Now hear me, and send back the captives ^(N)from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

¹²Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war ¹³and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” ¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. ¹⁵And ^(O)the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, ^(P)provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, ^(Q)the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶^(R)At that time King Ahaz sent to the king^[b] of Assyria for help. ¹⁷For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. ¹⁸^(S)And the Philistines had made raids on ^(T)the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco ^(U)with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. ¹⁹For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made ^(V)Judah act sinfully^[c] and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰So ^(W)Tiglath-pileser^[d] king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. ²¹^(X)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.

Ahaz's Idolatry

²²In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. ²³For ^(Y)he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, ^(Z)“Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and ^(AA)cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself ^(AB)altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵In every city of Judah he made high places to ^(AC)make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. ²⁶^(AD)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. ²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for ^(AE)they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 28:3 Hebrew made his sons pass through the fire
2 Chronicles 28:16 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate (compare 2 Kings 16:7); Hebrew kings
2 Chronicles 28:19 Or wildly
2 Chronicles 28:20 Hebrew Tilgath-pilneser

Isaiah 58

English Standard Version

True and False Fasting

58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
    ^(A)lift up your voice like a trumpet;
^(B)declare to my people their transgression,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
²^(C)Yet they seek me daily
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
    and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they delight to draw near to God.
³^(D)‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
    Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,^[a]
    ^(E)and oppress all your workers.
⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵^(F)Is such the fast that I choose,
    ^(G)a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    ^(H)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps ^(I)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed^[b] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not ^(J)to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    ^(K)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸^(L)Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    ^(M)and your healing shall spring up speedily;
^(N)your righteousness shall go before you;
    ^(O)the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away ^(P)the yoke from your midst,
    ^(Q)the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰^(R)if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
^(S)then shall your light rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹And the Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be ^(T)like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.
¹²^(U)And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to dwell in.

¹³^(V)“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure^[c] on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
    and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
    or seeking ^(W)your own pleasure,^[d] or talking idly;^[e]
¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    ^(X)and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;^[f]
^(Y)I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
    ^(Z)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”