Chronological
Ahaz Succeeds Jotham(A)
28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not practice what the Lord considered to be right, as his ancestor David had done. 2 Instead, he lived like[a] the kings of Israel did. He cast metal images of Baal,[b] 3 burned incense in the Ben-hinnom Valley, and burned his sons[c] as an offering, following the detestable activities of the nations whom the Lord had expelled in front of the people of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and burned incense on high places, on the top of hills, and under every green tree.
Aram and Israel Defeat Judah(B)
5 As a result, the Lord his God handed Ahaz[d] over to the king of Aram, who defeated him and took a large number of captives away to Damascus. Ahaz[e] was also delivered over to the control of the King of Israel, who defeated him with many heavy casualties. 6 Remaliah’s son Pekah killed 120,000 soldiers in a single day, all of them elite forces, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their ancestors. 7 Zichri, a valiant soldier from Ephraim, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam, the palace manager, and Elkanah, who was second in rank to the king. 8 The Israelis carried away 200,000 women, sons, and daughters from among their own relatives. They also took a great deal of plunder, and brought it all to Samaria.
Oded the Prophet Rebukes Israel
9 But a prophet of the Lord was there named Oded. He went out to greet the army as it arrived in Samaria. He warned them, “Look! Because the Lord God of your ancestors was angry at Judah, he delivered them into your control, but you have killed them with a vehemence that has reached all the way to heaven! 10 Now you’re intending to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves. Surely you have your own sins against the Lord your God for which you’re accountable,[f] don’t you? 11 So listen to me! Return the captives whom you’ve captured from your brothers, because the anger of the Lord is burning hot against you!”
12 Some of the leaders of the descendants of Ephraim, including Johanan’s son Azariah, Meshillemoth’s son Berechiah, Shallum’s son Jehizkiah, and Hadlai’s son Amasa, stood up to the army as they were coming back from the battle 13 and told them, “Don’t bring those captives here! You’ll bring even more guilt on us from the Lord, in addition to our own existing sin and guilt! He’s already mad enough against Israel because of our guilt!”
14 So the army abandoned the captives and the war booty in front of the officers and the entire assembled retinue. 15 After this, some men who were chosen by name took charge of the captives, clothed those who were naked with clothes appropriated from the war booty, gave them clothes and sandals, fed them, gave them something to drink, anointed them with oil, provided those who weren’t able to walk[g] with donkeys to ride on, and took them back to their relatives at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.
Assyria Plunders the Temple(C)
16 Right about then, King Ahaz sent for help from the kings of Assyria 17 because the Edomites had invaded, attacked Judah, and carried off some captives. 18 The Philistines also invaded some of the cities in the Shephelah[h] and in the Negev[i] of Judah. They captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, and their surrounding villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages. Then the Philistines[j] settled there, 19 because the Lord was humiliating Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, since Ahaz had brought about a lack of restraint within Judah and had remained unfaithful to the Lord. 20 King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked Ahaz[k] and, instead of helping him, attacked him. 21 Even though Ahaz took some of the assets belonging to the Lord’s Temple from the royal palace, and from the palaces belonging to the princes, and gave them to the king of Assyria, none of his gifts did any good.
The Apostasy and Death of Ahaz(D)
22 In the midst of his troubles, King Ahaz became more and more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him, reasoning, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them, so I’ll sacrifice to them so they will help me!” But those gods[l] brought about his downfall, and the downfall of all of Israel, too. 24 Ahaz also collected the utensils of God’s Temple, cut them all into pieces, and closed the doors of the Lord’s Temple. Then he made altars to[m] himself on every corner in Jerusalem 25 and established high places in every city of Judah where incense was burned to other gods, thus provoking the Lord God of his ancestors to anger. 26 The rest of his accomplishments, and records of everything he did from first to last are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 So Ahaz died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but they didn’t bury him among the tombs of the kings of Israel. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Ahaz Becomes King of Judah
16 During the seventeenth year of the reign of[a] Remaliah’s son Pekah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king of Judah. 2 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not practice what the Lord considered to be right, as had his ancestor David. 3 Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the Lord evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis. 4 Furthermore, Ahaz[b] sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.
Ahaz Seeks Help from Assyria(A)
5 Later, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem to attack it. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 But at that time, King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, completely removing the Judeans from Elath. Then the Arameans returned to Elath and have remained there to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, “I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the Lord’s Temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria, 9 so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.
King Ahaz Constructs a Pagan Altar(B)
10 King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest. 11 Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. 12 When the king returned from Damascus, as soon as he saw the altar, he[c] approached it and offered sacrifices on it. 13 He presented a burnt offering, a meat offering, poured out a drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of a peace offering on his altar. 14 Then he took the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from in front of the Temple, moved it to the north side of his altar, 15 and issued these orders to Uriah the priest:
“Burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, the whole burnt offering, the grain offering, and the drink offering on behalf of all the people of the land on the large altar. And sprinkle all the blood from the burnt offering and from the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask God questions.”
16 So Uriah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered. 17 Later, King Ahaz ordered the side panels removed from the bases, along with the washing bowls that had stood on top of the bases. He also removed the large bowl that was called the Sea from on top of the bronze bulls that supported it, and put it on a stone base. 18 Then Ahaz removed the covered walkway for use on the Sabbath that they had built in the Temple. Because of the king of Assyria, he also removed the outside entrance from the Lord’s Temple that had been built exclusively[d] for the king.
19 Now the rest of Ahaz’s activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? 20 Later, Ahaz died, as did[e] his ancestors, and was buried alongside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Israel Falls to Assyria during Hoshea’s Reign
17 During the twelfth year of the reign of[f] King Ahaz of Judah, Elah’s son Hoshea became king over Israel for nine years in Samaria. 2 He practiced what the Lord considered to be evil,[g] though not like the kings of Israel who had preceded him. 3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid tribute to him. 4 But the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy involving Hoshea, who had sent envoys to King So of Egypt and stopped offering tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done annually. As a result, the king of Assyria placed him under arrest and sent him to prison. 5 After this, the king of Assyria invaded the entire land, approached Samaria, and began a three year siege. 6 As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of[h] Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.
The Idolatry of the Northern Kingdom
7 This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination[i] of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because[j] they were fearing other gods, 8 and because they were following[k] the rules of the nations whom the Lord had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.
9 The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the Lord their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. 10 They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, 11 where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the Lord had expelled before them. They also practiced other[l] wickedness, provoking the Lord to become angry, 12 and they served idols, a practice that the Lord had warned them, “You are not to do this.”
13 Nevertheless, the Lord had warned both Israel and Judah by means[m] of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices[n] and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn,[o] just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected the Lord’s[p] statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness—and became meaningless themselves—as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the Lord had warned them not to do.
16 They abandoned all of the commands given by[q] the Lord their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. 17 They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the Lord considered to be evil, thereby[r] provoking him. 18 As a result, the Lord was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah.
19 But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle[s] that Israel had chosen, 20 so the Lord rejected all of the descendants[t] of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to the control of plunderers until he had thrown them away from his presence.[u] 21 He ripped them away from the heritage of David, even as the people[v] appointed Nebat’s son Jeroboam to be king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit great sin.
22 The Israelis practiced[w] all the sins that Jeroboam had practiced, and never wavered from them 23 until the Lord removed Israel from his presence,[x] just as he had warned through[y] all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.[z]
Assyria Supplants the Northern Kingdom
24 Because the king of Assyria brought captives[aa] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelis, the settlers[ab] possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 When they first began to live there, the settlers[ac] did not fear the Lord, so he sent lions among them, and they killed a few of them. 26 As a result, they reported to the king of Assyria, “Because the nations whom you exiled to live in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law[ad] of the god of the land, he has sent lions among them. Look how the lions[ae] are killing them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land!”
27 So the king of Assyria[af] issued this order: “Take one of the priests whom you carried away and let him go back and live there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went to live in Bethel to teach them how they ought to fear the Lord.
Assyrian Settlers Create Lasting Corruption
29 Nevertheless, each nation continued to craft their own gods and install them in the temples on the high places that the people of Samaria had constructed—every nation in their own cities where they continued to live. 30 Settlers[ag] from Babylon built Succoth-benoth, settlers[ah] from Cuth built Nergal, settlers[ai] from Hamath built Ashima, 31 and settlers[aj] from Avva built Nibhaz and Tartak. The residents of Sephar-vaim burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar-vaim.
32 Because they feared the Lord, they also appointed from among themselves priests for the high places who acted on their behalf in the temples on the high places. 33 While they continued to fear the Lord, they served their own gods, following the custom of the nations whom they had carried away from there. 34 To this very day, they still follow the former customs: they don’t fear the Lord and they don’t live in accordance with the statutes, ordinances, laws, or commandments that the Lord had given to the descendants of Jacob—whom he renamed Israel— 35 and with whom the Lord had made a covenant when he gave these[ak] orders to them:
“You are not to fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. 36 Instead, it is to be the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, showing great power and public demonstrations of might,[al] whom you are to fear, worship, and to whom you are to offer sacrifice. 37 Furthermore, you are to be careful to observe forever the statutes, ordinances, law, and the commandment that he wrote for you. And you are not to fear other gods. 38 You are not to forget the covenant that I’ve made with you, and you are not to fear other gods. 39 But you are to fear the Lord, and he will deliver you from the control[am] of all your enemies.”
40 But they wouldn’t listen. Instead, they did what they had been doing before. 41 These nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their descendants did the same thing, as did their grandchildren. Just as their ancestors had done, they also do the same thing to this day.
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