1 Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah in the seventeenth year of Pekah's
rule in Israel.
2 He was twenty years old at the time, and he ruled from Jerusalem for sixteen
years. Ahaz wasn't like his ancestor David. Instead, he disobeyed the LORD
3 and was even more sinful than the kings of Israel. He sacrificed his own son,
which was a disgusting custom of the nations that the LORD had forced out of
Israel.
4 Ahaz offered sacrifices at the local shrines, as well as on every hill and
in the shade of large trees.
5 While Ahaz was ruling Judah, the king of Edom recaptured the town of Elath
from Judah and forced out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath,
and they still live there. About the same time, King Rezin of Syria and King
Pekah of Israel marched to Jerusalem and attacked, but they could not capture
it.
6 (SEE 16:5)
7 Ahaz sent a message to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria that said, "Your
Majesty, King Rezin and King Pekah are attacking me, your loyal servant. Please
come and rescue me."
8 Along with the message, Ahaz sent silver and gold from the LORD's temple and
from the palace treasury as a gift for the Assyrian king.
9 As soon as Tiglath Pileser received the message, he and his troops marched
to Syria. He captured the capital city of Damascus, then he took the people
living there to the town of Kir as prisoners and killed King Rezin.
10 Later, Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser. And while Ahaz was
there, he saw an altar and sent a model of it back to Uriah the priest, along
with the plans for building one.
11 Uriah followed the plans and built an altar exactly like the one in Damascus,
finishing it just before Ahaz came back.
12 When Ahaz returned, he went to see the altar and to offer sacrifices on it.
He walked up to the altar
13 and poured wine over it. Then he offered sacrifices to please the LORD, to
give him thanks, and to ask for his blessings.
14 After that, he had the bronze altar moved aside, so his new altar would be
right in front of the LORD's temple.
15 He told Uriah the priest: From now on, the morning and evening sacrifices
as well as all gifts of grain and wine are to be offered on this altar. The
sacrifices for the people and for the king must also be offered here. Sprinkle
the blood from all the sacrifices on it, but leave the bronze altar for me to
use for prayer and finding out what God wants me to do.
16 Uriah did everything Ahaz told him.
17 Ahaz also had the side panels and the small bowls taken off the movable stands
in the LORD's temple. He had the large bronze bowl, called the Sea, removed
from the bronze bulls on which it rested and had it placed on a stand made of
stone.
18 He took down the special tent that was used for worship on the Sabbath and
closed up the private entrance that the kings of Judah used for going into the
temple. He did all these things to please Tiglath Pileser.
19 Everything else Ahaz did while he was king is written in The History of the
Kings of Judah.
20 Ahaz died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Hezekiah
became king.
The Contemporary English Version, Copyright © 1995
by the American Bible Society.
Selected texts provided for use with the Amos: Hypertext Bible Commentary