2 Chronicles 28
New American Standard Bible
Ahaz Succeeds Jotham in Judah
28 (A)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. (B)He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done. 2 (C)But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also (D)made cast metal images for the Baals. 3 Furthermore, (E)he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and (F)burned his sons in fire, (G)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from the sons of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and (H)burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Judah Is Invaded
5 Therefore (I)the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they [a]defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties. 6 For (J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.
8 (K)The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of (L)their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also [b]took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and (M)he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, (N)was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage (O)which has even reached heaven. 10 Now you are proposing to (P)subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the Lord your God? 11 Now then, listen to me and return the captives (Q)whom you captured from your brothers, (R)for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” 12 Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming from the battle, 13 and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly. 15 Then (S)the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and (T)gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, (U)the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.
Compromise with Assyria
16 (V)At that time King Ahaz sent word to the [c]kings of Assyria for help. 17 (W)For the Edomites had come again and attacked Judah, and led away captives. 18 (X)The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the [d]lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they had settled there. 19 For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of (Y)Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord. 20 So (Z)Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 (AA)Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.
22 Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz (AB)became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 (AC)For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had [e]defeated him, and said, “(AD)Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the [f]downfall of him and all Israel. 24 Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he (AE)cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he (AF)closed the doors of the house of the Lord, and (AG)made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger. 26 (AH)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 (AI)So Ahaz [g]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of (AJ)Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 28:5 Lit struck
- 2 Chronicles 28:8 Lit plundered
- 2 Chronicles 28:16 Ancient versions king
- 2 Chronicles 28:18 Heb shephelah
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 Lit struck
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 Lit stumbling
- 2 Chronicles 28:27 I.e., died
2 Chronicles 28
Common English Bible
Ahaz rules
28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what was right in the Lord’s eyes, unlike his ancestor David. 2 Instead, he walked in the ways of Israel’s kings, making images of the Baals 3 and burning incense in the Ben-hinnom Valley. He even burned his own sons alive, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He also sacrificed and burned incense at the shrines on every hill and beneath every shady tree. 5 So the Lord his God handed him over to Aram’s king, who defeated him and carried off many prisoners, bringing them to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to Israel’s king, who defeated him with a severe beating. 6 In Judah, Pekah, Remaliah’s son, killed one hundred twenty thousand warriors in the course of a single day because they had abandoned the Lord, God of their ancestors. 7 An Ephraimite warrior named Zichri killed the king’s son Maaseiah, the palace administrator Azrikam, and Elkanah, the king’s second in command. 8 The Israelites took captive two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls from their Judean relatives and seized enormous amounts of plunder, which they took back to Samaria.
9 One of the Lord’s prophets named Oded lived in Samaria. When the army arrived there, he went to meet them and said, “Don’t you see that the Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah and let you defeat them? But look what you’ve done! Your merciless slaughter of them stinks to high heaven! 10 And now you think you can enslave the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem? What about your own guilt before the Lord your God? 11 Listen to me! Send back the captives you took from your relatives, because the Lord is furious with you.”
12 At this, some of the Ephraimite leaders—Johanan’s son Azariah, Meshillemoth’s son Berechiah, Shallum’s son Jehizkiah, and Hadlai’s son Amasa—confronted those returning from battle. 13 “Don’t bring the captives here,” they told them. “Your plan will only add to our sin and guilt before the Lord. We’re already guilty enough, and great anger is already directed at Israel.” 14 So the warriors released the captives and brought the loot before the officers and the whole assembly. 15 Then people named for this task took charge of the captives and dressed everyone who was naked with items taken from the loot. They gave them clothing, sandals, food and drink, and bandaged their wounds. Everyone who couldn’t walk they placed on donkeys, and they brought them to Jericho, Palm City, near their Judean relatives. Then they returned to Samaria.
16 At that time King Ahaz sent for help from the king[a] of Assyria. 17 Once again, the Edomites had invaded Judah, defeating Judah and carrying off captives. 18 The Philistines had raided the towns in the lowlands and the arid southern plain of Judah, capturing Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, along with Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages, and occupying all of these cities. 19 The Lord was humiliating Judah on account of Israel’s King Ahaz, because he had exercised no restraint in Judah and had been utterly unfaithful to the Lord. 20 Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser[b] came to Ahaz, but he brought trouble, not support. 21 Even though Ahaz took items from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials to buy off the king of Assyria, it was of no help.
22 It was during this troubled time that King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord 23 by sacrificing to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him.
“Since the gods of Aram’s kings are helping them,” he said, “I’ll sacrifice to them too, so that they will help me.”
But they became the ruin of both him and all Israel. 24 Ahaz gathered the objects from God’s temple, cut them up, shut the doors of the Lord’s temple, and made himself altars on every corner in Jerusalem. 25 He made shrines in all the towns of Judah for burning incense to other gods. This made the Lord, the God of his ancestors, very angry.
26 The rest of Ahaz’s deeds, from beginning to end, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. 27 Ahaz lay down with his ancestors and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery of Israel’s kings. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 28:16 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT kings
- 2 Chronicles 28:20 MT Tilgath-pilneser
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