2 Chronicles 28
New American Standard Bible
Ahaz Succeeds Jotham in Judah
28 (A)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. (B)He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done. 2 (C)But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also (D)made cast metal images for the Baals. 3 Furthermore, (E)he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and (F)burned his sons in fire, (G)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from the sons of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and (H)burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Judah Is Invaded
5 Therefore (I)the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they [a]defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties. 6 For (J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.
8 (K)The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of (L)their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also [b]took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and (M)he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, (N)was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage (O)which has even reached heaven. 10 Now you are proposing to (P)subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the Lord your God? 11 Now then, listen to me and return the captives (Q)whom you captured from your brothers, (R)for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” 12 Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming from the battle, 13 and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly. 15 Then (S)the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and (T)gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, (U)the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.
Compromise with Assyria
16 (V)At that time King Ahaz sent word to the [c]kings of Assyria for help. 17 (W)For the Edomites had come again and attacked Judah, and led away captives. 18 (X)The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the [d]lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they had settled there. 19 For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of (Y)Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord. 20 So (Z)Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 (AA)Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.
22 Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz (AB)became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 (AC)For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had [e]defeated him, and said, “(AD)Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the [f]downfall of him and all Israel. 24 Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he (AE)cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he (AF)closed the doors of the house of the Lord, and (AG)made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger. 26 (AH)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 (AI)So Ahaz [g]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of (AJ)Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 28:5 Lit struck
- 2 Chronicles 28:8 Lit plundered
- 2 Chronicles 28:16 Ancient versions king
- 2 Chronicles 28:18 Heb shephelah
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 Lit struck
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 Lit stumbling
- 2 Chronicles 28:27 I.e., died
2 Chronicles 28
Living Bible
28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. But he was an evil king, unlike his ancestor King David. 2 For he followed the example of the kings over in Israel and worshiped the idols of Baal. 3 He even went out to the valley of Hinnom, and it was not just to burn incense to the idols, for he even sacrificed his own children in the fire, just like the heathen nations that were thrown out of the land by the Lord to make room for Israel. 4 Yes, he sacrificed and burned incense at the idol shrines on the hills and under every green tree.
5 That is why the Lord God allowed the king of Syria to defeat him and deport large numbers of his people to Damascus. The armies from Israel also slaughtered great numbers of his troops. 6 On a single day Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 of his bravest soldiers because they had turned away from the Lord God of their fathers. 7 Then Zichri, a great warrior from Ephraim, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, the king’s administrator Azrikam, and the king’s second-in-command Elkanah. 8 The armies from Israel also captured 200,000 Judean women and children and tremendous amounts of booty, which they took to Samaria.
9 But Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there in Samaria, and he went out to meet the returning army.
“Look!” he exclaimed. “The Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah and let you capture them, but you have butchered them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed. 10 And now are you going to make slaves of these people from Judah and Jerusalem? What about your own sins against the Lord your God? 11 Listen to me and return these relatives of yours to their homes, for now the fierce anger of the Lord is upon you.”
12 Some of the top leaders of Ephraim also added their opposition. These men were Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai.
13 “You must not bring the captives here!” they declared. “If you do, the Lord will be angry, and this sin will be added to our many others. We are in enough trouble with God as it is.”
14 So the army officers turned over the captives and booty to the political leaders to decide what to do. 15 Then the four men already mentioned distributed captured stores of clothing to the women and children who needed it and gave them shoes, food, and wine, and put those who were sick and old on donkeys, and took them back to their families in Jericho, the City of Palm Trees. Then their escorts returned to Samaria.
16 About that time King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria to be his ally in his war against the armies of Edom. For Edom was invading Judah and capturing many people as slaves. 17-18 Meanwhile, the Philistines had invaded the lowland cities and the Negeb and had already captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their surrounding villages, and were living there. 19 For the Lord brought Judah very low on account of the evil deeds of King Ahaz of Israel,[a] for he had destroyed the spiritual fiber of Judah and had been faithless to the Lord. 20 But when Tilgath-pilneser, king of Assyria, arrived, he caused trouble for King Ahaz instead of helping him. 21 So even though Ahaz had given him the Temple gold and the palace treasures, it did no good.
22 In this time of deep trial, King Ahaz collapsed spiritually. 23 He sacrificed to the gods of the people of Damascus who had defeated him, for he felt that since these gods had helped the kings of Syria, they would help him too if he sacrificed to them. But instead, they were his ruin, and that of all his people. 24 The king took the gold bowls from the Temple and slashed them to pieces, and nailed the door of the Temple shut so that no one could worship there, and made altars to the heathen gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 And he did the same in every city of Judah, thus angering the Lord God of his fathers.
26 The other details of his life and activities are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 When King Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal tombs, and his son Hezekiah became the new king.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 28:19 King Ahaz of Israel. King Ahaz ruled two tribes of Israel—Judah and Benjamin—and so is referred to here in this unusual way as a king of Israel.
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The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.