2 Kings 16

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

1 In the seventeenth year 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 became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed a he made his son pass through the fire, according to the b abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the c high places, d on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 e Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. 6 At that time Rezin king of Syria f captured 1 Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the 2 Edomites went to Elath, and dwell there to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to g TiglathPile'ser 3 king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me." 8 And Ahaz h took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king's house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. 9 So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against i Damascus and j took it, carried its people captive to k Kir, and killed Rezin.

10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet TiglathPile'ser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. 11 Then l Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. 12 And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and m the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. 13 So he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering; and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 He also brought n the bronze altar which was before the LORD, from the front of the 4 temple - from between the new altar and the house of the LORD - and put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, "On the great new altar burn o the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt sacrifice, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16 Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

17 p And King Ahaz cut off q the panels of the carts, and removed the lavers from them; and he took down r the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. 18 Also he removed the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple, and he removed the king's outer entrance from the house of the LORD, on account 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 So Ahaz rested with his fathers, and s was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

  1. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:21
    And you shall not let any of your descendants p...
    2 Kings 17:17
    And they caused their sons and daughters to pas...
    2 Chronicles 28:3
    He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of H...
    Psalms 106:37
    They even sacrificed their sons And their daugh...
    Psalms 106:38
    And shed innocent blood, The blood of their son...
    Isaiah 1:1
    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he ...
  2. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:31
    You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
    2 Kings 21:2
    And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
    2 Kings 21:11
    Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations ( he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols).
  3. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:34
    And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
    2 Kings 15:35
    However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD.
  4. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:2
    You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
    1 Kings 14:23
    For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
  5. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:37
    In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
    Isaiah 7:1
    Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it.
    Isaiah 7:4
    And say to him: 'Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.
  6. Cross References
    2 Kings 14:22
    He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers.
    2 Chronicles 26:2
    He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers.
  7. Cross References
    2 Kings 15:29
    In the days of Pekah king of Israel, TiglathPile'ser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
    1 Chronicles 5:26
    So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, that is, TiglathPile'ser king of Assyria. He carried the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into captivity. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan to this day.
    2 Chronicles 28:20
    Also TiglathPile'ser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him, and did not assist him.
  8. Cross References
    2 Kings 12:17
    Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
    2 Kings 12:18
    And Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and in the king's house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.
    2 Chronicles 28:21
    For Ahaz took part of the treasures from the house of the LORD, from the house of the king, and from the leaders, and he gave it to the king of Assyria; but he did not help him.
  9. Cross References
    2 Kings 14:28
    Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did - his might, how he made war, and how he recaptured for Israel, from Damascus and Hamath, what had belonged to Judah - are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
  10. Cross References
    Amos 1:5
    I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, And the one who holds the scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir," Says the LORD.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:6
    Elam bore the quiver With chariots of men and horsemen, And Kir uncovered the shield.
    Amos 9:7
    Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me, O children of Israel?" says the LORD. "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, The Philistines from Caphtor, And the Syrians from Kir?
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 8:2
    "And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."
  13. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 26:16
    But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
    2 Chronicles 26:19
    Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the incense altar.
  14. Cross References
    Exodus 27:1
    You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide - the altar shall be square - and its height shall be three cubits.
    Exodus 27:2
    You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze.
    Exodus 40:6
    Then you shall set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
    Exodus 40:29
    And he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
    2 Chronicles 4:1
    Moreover he made a bronze altar: twenty cubits was its length, twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.
  15. Cross References
    Exodus 29:39 - 41
    One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.
  16. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:24
    So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
  17. Cross References
    1 Kings 7:27 - 29
    He also made ten carts of bronze; four cubits was the length of each cart, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.
  18. Cross References
    1 Kings 7:23 - 25
    And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
  19. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:27
    So Ahaz rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem; but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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