| Chapter
16 |
| 1 | In the
seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of
Judah began to reign. |
| 2 |
Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in
Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God,
like David his father. |
| 3 |
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass
through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD
cast out from before the children of Israel. |
| 4 | And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places,
and on the hills, and under every green tree. |
| 5 | Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king
of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not
overcome him. |
| 6 | At that
time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from
Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day. |
| 7 | So Ahaz sent messengers to
Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up,
and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the
king of Israel, which rise up against me. |
| 8 | And Ahaz 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 it for a
present to the king of Assyria. |
| 9
| And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria
went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to
Kir, and slew Rezin. |
| 10 |
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw
an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the
fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship
thereof. |
| 11 | And Urijah
the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from
Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from
Damascus. |
| 12 | And when
the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king
approached to the altar, and offered thereon. |
| 13 | And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering,
and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings,
upon the altar. |
| 14 | And
he brought also the brazen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront
of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on
the north side of the altar. |
| 15
| And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great
altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the
king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all
the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and
sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the
sacrifice: and the brazen altar shall be for me to enquire by. |
| 16 | Thus did Urijah the priest, according
to all that king Ahaz commanded. |
|
17 | And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the
laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were
under it, and put it upon the pavement of stones. |
|
18 | And the covert for the sabbath that they had
built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of
the LORD for the king of Assyria. |
|
19 | Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? |
| 20 | And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and
was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned
in his stead. |
