2 Kings 15:32-16:20 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Azariah king of Judah began to reign.

VIN⁽ⁱ⁾ ³² In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Azariah king of Judah began to reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he became king. He ruled sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ Only, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD. ³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ And Joatham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Achaz, his son, reigned in his stead. ¹⁶ ¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah 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 he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, like David his father. ³ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even let his son pass through the fire according to the detestable things of the nations which the LORD drove out from before the Israelites. ⁴ He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵ Then Rezin king of Aram 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 Aram recovered Elath for Aram and drove out the Judeans from Elath. The Arameans came to Elath and have lived there until this day. ⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your 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 rise up against me." ⁸ And 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. ⁹ The king of Assyria, in answer to his request, went up against Damascus and captured it. He took its people away as prisoners to Kir, and put Rezin to death. ¹⁰ King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it. ¹¹ Urijah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar. He went up on it and made an offering. ¹³ and offered his burnt offering, and his food offering, and poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle 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." ¹⁶ So Urijah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered. ¹⁷ King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basins from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁸ The covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry outside the house of the LORD, he changed because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ And the rest of the acts of Ahaz, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.