2 Kings 16

In the seventeenth year that Pekah son of Remaliah was king of Israel, Ahaz son of Jotham began to rule as king of Judah.

1In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

NoteAt this time the Israelites were split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north, with its own line of kings, and Judah in the south, ruled from Jerusalem by descendants of David. Kings dates a new reign in one kingdom by the regnal year of the king ruling the other, which is why Ahaz's accession is fixed by Pekah's seventeenth year.

2Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled sixteen years in Jerusalem. Unlike his ancestor David, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God.

2Twenty 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.

Note"David his father" in the Hebrew means ancestor, not parent; David had died roughly 250 years earlier. Judah's kings were routinely measured against him as the founder of their dynasty.

3Instead he lived the way the kings of Israel did. He even made his own son pass through the fire, copying the hateful practices of the nations that the LORD had driven out ahead of the people of Israel.

3But 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.

Note"Made his son pass through the fire" is the Hebrew phrase, and what exactly it describes is disputed: most take it as burning a child as a sacrifice, while some read it as a fire rite the child survived. The Hebrew leaves it open, so the rendering keeps the original wording. "Abominations" (here "hateful practices") translates a word for practices regarded as ritually detestable.

4He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

4And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

Note"High places" were open-air worship sites, often on hilltops or raised platforms, with an altar and sometimes a sacred pole or standing stone. They were ordinary places of worship across the region; Kings judges Judah's kings by whether they used them. "Under every green tree" points to shrines set at large, leafy trees, which were also treated as sacred spots.

5Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, marched up to Jerusalem to make war. They surrounded Ahaz and trapped him there, but they could not defeat him.

5Then 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.

Note"Syria" here translates Aram, the Aramean kingdom centered on Damascus, not the modern country of the same name. Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel were allies; a besieging army camped around a city to starve it out rather than storm it.

6At that time Rezin king of Syria took back the town of Elath for Syria. He drove the people of Judah out of Elath, and Syrians moved into Elath and have lived there ever since.

6At 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.

NoteElath was a port at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea, controlling southern trade routes. The Hebrew consonants for "Aram" (Syria) and "Edom" are nearly identical, and ancient manuscripts differ here: some say Syrians settled in Elath, others Edomites. "To this day" means as of the time the account was written, not the reader's day.

7So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria with this message: "I am your servant and your son. Come and rescue me from the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who are attacking me."

7So 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.

Note"I am your servant and your son" is formal diplomatic language, not family talk. It is how a smaller ruler formally submitted to a great king, accepting vassal status: protection in exchange for loyalty and payment.

8Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the temple of the LORD and in the treasure rooms of the royal palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.

8And 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.

NoteThe "gift" is tribute, a payment that both bought Assyrian help and acknowledged Assyrian overlordship. The temple and palace treasuries held the state's reserves of precious metal, so stripping them was the standard way a king raised a large sum quickly.

9The king of Assyria listened to him. He marched against Damascus and captured it, carried its people away as prisoners to Kir, and put Rezin to death.

9And 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.

NoteDamascus was the Aramean (Syrian) capital. Deporting a conquered population to a distant region was standard Assyrian policy, designed to break local resistance. Kir was the region the Arameans were said to have come from originally; its exact location is unknown.

10King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he saw an altar there. He sent Urijah the priest a drawing of that altar and a full plan of it, showing exactly how it was made.

10And 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.

NoteUrijah was the chief priest of the temple in Jerusalem. Ahaz's trip to Damascus was a vassal's visit to his overlord after the city fell. The altar he copied was a large outdoor altar for animal sacrifice, not a small table.

11Urijah the priest built an altar following all the instructions King Ahaz sent from Damascus. He finished it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus.

11And 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.

12When the king returned from Damascus, he saw the altar. He walked up to it and presented offerings on it.

12And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.

13He burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

13And 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.

NoteThese are the standard categories of Israelite sacrifice. A burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar. A grain offering (the KJV's "meat offering", using "meat" in its older sense of food generally) was flour, oil and incense. A drink offering was wine poured out at the altar. A peace or fellowship offering was an animal whose blood and fat went to the altar while the worshipers ate the rest as a shared meal.

14He also moved the bronze altar that stood before the LORD at the front of the temple, between the new altar and the house of the LORD. He put it on the north side of the new altar.

14And he brought also the brasen 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.

NoteThe bronze altar was the original altar of Solomon's temple, standing directly in front of the building's entrance, the prime position in the courtyard. Moving it to the north side put the new Damascus-style altar in its place.

15King Ahaz gave this order to Urijah the priest: "On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Sprinkle on that altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and all the blood of the other sacrifices. The bronze altar will be mine to use for seeking guidance."

15And 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 brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by.

NoteThe morning and evening offerings were the fixed daily sacrifices of the temple. "For me to enquire by" (here "seeking guidance") renders a Hebrew phrase whose sense is uncertain; it most likely refers to seeking an oracle or omen, but the text does not say how, and some read the clause instead as "I will consider what to do with it."

16Urijah the priest did everything exactly as King Ahaz had commanded.

16Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.

17King Ahaz also cut away the side panels of the movable stands and lifted the washing basins off them. He took the great basin called the Sea down from the bronze oxen that held it up and set it on a stone base.

17And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.

NoteThese were the bronze fittings Solomon had made for the temple courtyard: ten wheeled stands with decorated side panels, each carrying a basin for rinsing sacrificial meat, and the "Sea", a huge bronze water tank roughly fifteen feet across resting on twelve bronze bulls. Cutting them up yielded a great deal of bronze, which was valuable metal.

18Because of the king of Assyria, he also removed the covered structure used on the Sabbath, which had been built inside the temple, and he closed off the outer entrance the king used to enter the house of the LORD.

18And 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.

NoteWhat the "covert for the sabbath" was is unknown; it appears to have been some kind of covered structure or canopy in the temple precinct used on the Sabbath. The king's outer entry was a private royal approach to the temple. Both were removed or closed "because of the king of Assyria", the text does not explain whether the materials were handed over as tribute or the royal privileges were withdrawn as a show of submission.

19The rest of the things Ahaz did are written down in the record book of the kings of Judah.

19Now 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?

NoteThis refers to the official royal annals of Judah, a court record now lost. It is not the biblical books of Chronicles, which were written much later.

20Ahaz died and joined his ancestors, and he was buried with them in the City of David. His son Hezekiah became king in his place.

20And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

Note"Slept with his fathers" is a stock Hebrew phrase for dying a natural death, distinct from being killed. The City of David was the oldest, southern part of Jerusalem, where the kings of Judah were buried.