New Living Translation

English Standard Version

Ahaz Rules in Judah

Ahaz son of Jotham began to rule over Judah in the seventeenth year of King Pekah’s reign in Israel.

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Ahaz Reigns in Judah

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

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Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the LORD his God, as his ancestor David had done.

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Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done,

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Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel, even sacrificing his own son in the fire.a In this way, he followed the detestable practices of the pagan nations the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

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but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering,a according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

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He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.

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And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

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Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel came up to attack Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.

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Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.

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At that time the king of Edomb recovered the town of Elath for Edom.c He drove out the people of Judah and sent Edomitesd to live there, as they do to this day.

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At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day.

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King Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria with this message: “I am your servant and your vassal.e Come up and rescue me from the attacking armies of Aram and Israel.”

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So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”

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Then Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Temple of the LORD and the palace treasury and sent it as a payment to the Assyrian king.

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Ahaz also 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 a present to the king of Assyria.

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So the king of Assyria attacked the Aramean capital of Damascus and led its population away as captives, resettling them in Kir. He also killed King Rezin.

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And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

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King Ahaz then went to Damascus to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. While he was there, he took special note of the altar. Then he sent a model of the altar to Uriah the priest, along with its design in full detail.

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When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.

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Uriah followed the king’s instructions and built an altar just like it, and it was ready before the king returned from Damascus.

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And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.

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When the king returned, he inspected the altar and made offerings on it.

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And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it

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He presented a burnt offering and a grain offering, he poured out a liquid offering, and he sprinkled the blood of peace offerings on the altar.

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and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

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Then King Ahaz removed the old bronze altar from its place in front of the LORD’s Temple, between the entrance and the new altar, and placed it on the north side of the new altar.

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And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.

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He told Uriah the priest, “Use the new altarf for the morning sacrifices of burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offerings of all the people, as well as their grain offerings and liquid offerings. Sprinkle the blood from all the burnt offerings and sacrifices on the new altar. The bronze altar will be for my personal use only.”

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And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”

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Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz commanded him.

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Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

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Then the king removed the side panels and basins from the portable water carts. He also removed the great bronze basin called the Sea from the backs of the bronze oxen and placed it on the stone pavement.

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And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the seab from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal.

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In deference to the king of Assyria, he also removed the canopy that had been constructed inside the palace for use on the Sabbath day,g as well as the king’s outer entrance to the Temple of the LORD.

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And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria.

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The rest of the events in Ahaz’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.

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Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

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When Ahaz died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Hezekiah became the next king.

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

Parallel

New Living Translation

English Standard Version

2 Kings 16

2 Kings 16