¹² She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^(A)all of them desirable young men.

^7 (A)So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(B)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 ^(C)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 (D)And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus ^(E)and took it, carrying its people captive to ^(F)Kir, and he killed Rezin.

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^(G)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to ^(H)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. ^(I)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 ^(J)the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed ^(K)from the front of the house, from the place between ^(L)his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of ^(M)his altar. ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn ^(N)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 ^(O)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 ^(P)the sea^[a] 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.

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