²⁸ You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians^(A) too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied.^(B)

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser^(A) king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save^(B) me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah^(A) the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. ¹¹ So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. ¹² When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings^[a](B) on it. ¹³ He offered up his burnt offering^(C) and grain offering,^(D) poured out his drink offering,^(E) and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings^(F) against the altar. ¹⁴ As for the bronze altar^(G) that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵ King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning^(H) burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”^{(I) 16} And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

¹⁷ King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base.^{(J) 18} He took away the Sabbath canopy^[b] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.^(K)

²³ He offered sacrifices to the gods^(A) of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”^(B) But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.^(C)

¹² She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.^{(A) 13} I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.^(B)

¹⁴ “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall,^(C) figures of Chaldeans^[a] portrayed in red,^{(D) 15} with belts^(E) around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.^{[b] 16} As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers^(F) to them in Chaldea.^{(G) 17} Then the Babylonians^(H) came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.^{(I) 18} When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body,^(J) I turned away^(K) from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.^{(L) 19} Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. ²⁰ There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. ²¹ So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.^[c](M)

⁵ “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians^(A)—warriors^{(B) 6} clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. ⁷ She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.^{(C) 8} She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt,^(D) when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.^(E)

⁹ “Therefore I delivered her into the hands^(F) of her lovers,^(G) the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.^(H)