Ahaz Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 28:1–4)
1 UST When Pekah had been ruling Israel for almost 17 years, Ahaz son of Jotham became the king of Judah. BSB BSB: In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah.
2 UST Ahaz was 20 years old when he became the king of Judah. He ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years. He did not do things that pleased Yahweh, the God he should have worshiped, the way his ancestor King David had done. BSB BSB: Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God.
3 UST Instead, he behaved in the same sinful way that the kings of Israel behaved. He even burned up his son as an offering to an idol. That was one of the disgusting things that the people groups who had previously lived in the land of Canaan had done. Yahweh drove those people out so that the Israelites could settle in the land. BSB BSB: Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
4 UST He offered sacrifices and burned incense on hilltop shrines, on the tops of many other hills, and under many big trees. BSB BSB: And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 UST Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel led their armies to attack Jerusalem. Those armies surrounded the city, but they could not defeat the army of Ahaz and conquer it. BSB BSB: Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.
6 UST (When King Rezin of Aram led his army to invade Judah, he forced the Judeans who were occupying and defending the city of Elath to leave. He made that city part of his own kingdom. Arameans went to live in Elath, and they have continued to live there.) BSB BSB: At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, drove out the men of Judah, and sent the Edomites into Elath, where they live to this day.
8 UST Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in Yahweh’ s temple and that he was keeping in the royal palace and sent it as tribute to the king of Assyria. BSB BSB: Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.
9 UST Tiglath Pileser agreed to do what Ahaz asked. He led his army to attack Damascus, and they captured the city. He executed Rezin. Then his army forced the people who lived in Damascus to leave and go to live in the city of Kir. BSB BSB: So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.
The Idolatry of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:16–27)
10 UST Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath Pileser. He saw the altar that was there. He sent Uriah, the high priest in Jerusalem, a drawing of the altar and a detailed description of how to build one like it. BSB BSB: Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. On seeing the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction.
11 UST So Uriah followed the directions that King Ahaz had sent him, and he built an altar{ in Jerusalem} like the one in Damascus. Uriah worked hard to finish the altar before Ahaz returned from Damascus. BSB BSB: And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it before King Ahaz returned.
12 UST When King Ahaz returned from Damascus, he inspected the altar{ and approved of how Uriah had built it}. Then he brought sacrifices and offered them on the altar. BSB BSB: When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it.
13 UST He burned a sacrificial animal and a grain offering on it. He also poured a wine offering onto it. He also scattered on it the blood from his fellowship sacrifices. BSB BSB: He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splattered the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
14 UST There was a bronze altar{ in the temple courtyard} where the Israelites considered Yahweh to be especially present.{ Uriah had positioned the new altar so that the bronze altar} was between the new altar and the temple. Ahaz had Uriah move the bronze altar away from the temple and put it on the right side of his new altar. BSB BSB: He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the LORD) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.
15 UST Then King Ahaz ordered Uriah,“I want you to use this new altar for the sacrifices that the priests burn completely each morning and for the grain offering that they offer each evening. I also want you to use it for the burnt offerings and grain offerings that I bring. I also want you to use it for the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and wine offerings that the people bring. When the priests offer animals as burnt sacrifices or fellowship sacrifices, scatter the blood of those animals against the sides of the altar. The old bronze altar will be only for me to use when I pray.” BSB BSB: Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”
16 UST So Uriah did what the king commanded him to do. BSB BSB: So Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded.
17 UST King Ahaz told his workers to take off the panels of the bronze carts that were outside the temple. He also told them to take off the water basins that were on them. He also had them take the giant water basin that people called a sea off the backs of the bronze statues of oxen that it rested on. He had them put it on stones they spread on the ground{ so the basin would not sink into the earth}. BSB BSB: King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.
18 UST Earlier one of the kings had had his workers build a covered walkway that people could use to get to the temple courtyard on the Sabbath day. Another king had made a private entrance into the temple courtyard for the kings of Judah. Ahaz had his workers take down that walkway and close up that entrance. Ahaz did all these things in order to please the king of Assyria. BSB BSB: And on account of the king of Assyria, he removed the Sabbath canopy they had built in the temple and closed the royal entryway outside the house of the LORD.
19 UST The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Ahaz did. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
20 UST When Ahaz died, the Judeans buried him in the part of Jerusalem that people called the City of David. That is where people had buried his ancestors. Ahaz’ s son Hezekiah became the next king. BSB BSB: And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
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