2 Kings 16:1-20 ¶ In the year seventeen of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.

EJ2000⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ ¶ In the year seventeen of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem and did not do 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 and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the Gentiles, whom the LORD cast out from before the sons of Israel. ⁴ Likewise 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 drove 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 slave 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, who have risen up against me. ⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasury of the king’s house and sent it for a bribe 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 the 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 of it. ¹¹ And Urijah, the priest, built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah, the priest, made it while King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar and offered upon it. ¹³ And he burnt his burnt offering and his present and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, next to the altar. ¹⁴ And the brasen altar which had been before the LORD, he caused to be moved in front of the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and he put it beside the altar towards the Aquilon. ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Urijah, the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening present and the king’s burnt sacrifice and his present, and likewise the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their present 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 mine to enquire by. ¹⁶ Thus did Urijah, the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded him. ¹⁷ ¶ And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases and removed the lavers 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. ¹⁸ And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house and the king’s entry outside, he moved behind the house of the LORD, for the sake of 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.