2 Chronicles 28
28
Judah’s King Ahaz
1Ahaz was 20 years old # 2Kg 16:2-4 when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight # 2Ch 27:2 like his ancestor David, 2for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel # 2Ch 22:3 and made cast images of the Baals. # Ex 34:17 3He burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom # Jos 15:8; 18:16; 2Kg 23:10; Jr 7:29-34; 19:2-6 and burned his children in # LXX, Syr, Tg read and passed his children through # Lv 18:21; 2Kg 16:3; 2Ch 33:6 the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. # 2Ch 33:2 4He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, # 2Ch 28:25 on the hills, and under every green tree.
5So the Lord his God handed Ahaz over # 2Ch 24:24 to the king of Aram. He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus.
Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force: 6Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day — all brave men — because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. 7An Ephraimite warrior named Zichri killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam governor of the palace, and Elkanah who was second to the king. 8Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their brothers — women, sons, and daughters. # 2Ch 11:4 They also took a great deal of plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.
9A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Look, the Lord God of your ancestors handed them over to you because of His wrath against Judah, # Is 47:6 but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached heaven. # Ezr 9:6; Rv 18:5 10Now you plan to reduce the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, to slavery. Are you not also guilty before Yahweh your God? 11Listen to me and return the captives you took from your brothers, # 2Ch 28:8 for the Lord’s burning anger is on you.”
12So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites — Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai — stood in opposition to those coming from the war. 13They said to them, “You must not bring the captives here, for you plan to bring guilt on us from the Lord to add to our sins and our guilt. For we have much guilt, and burning anger is on Israel.”
14The army left the captives and the plunder in the presence of the officers and the congregation. 15Then the men who were designated by name # 2Ch 28:12 took charge of the captives and provided clothes for their naked ones from the plunder. They clothed them, gave them sandals, food and drink, # 2Kg 6:22; Pr 25:21-22 dressed their wounds, and provided donkeys for all the feeble. The Israelites brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms, # Dt 34:3 among their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.
16At that time King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. # 2Kg 16:7 17The Edomites came again, attacked Judah, and took captives. # Ob 10-14 18The Philistines also raided the cities of the Judean foothills # Or the Shephelah and the Negev of Judah # Ezk 16:57 and captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its villages, Timnah and its villages, Gimzo and its villages, and they lived there. 19For the Lord humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah, # Some Hb mss; other Hb mss read Israel who threw off restraint in Judah and was unfaithful to the Lord. 20Then Tiglath-pileser # Text emended; MT reads Tilgath-pilneser ; 1Ch 5:6,26 # 1Ch 5:26 king of Assyria came against Ahaz; he oppressed him and did not give him support. # 2Ch 28:16 21Although Ahaz plundered the Lord’s temple and the palace of the king and of the rulers and gave the plunder to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.
22At the time of his distress, King Ahaz himself became more unfaithful to the Lord. 23He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him; he said, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” # Jr 44:17-18 But they were the downfall of him and of all Israel.
24Then Ahaz gathered up the utensils of God’s temple, cut them into pieces, # 2Kg 16:17 shut the doors of the Lord’s temple, # 2Ch 29:7 and made himself altars on every street corner in Jerusalem. # 2Ch 30:14; 33:3-5 25He made high places in every city of Judah to offer incense to other gods, and he provoked the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
Ahaz’s Death
26As for the rest of his deeds # 2Kg 16:19-20 and all his ways, from beginning to end, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah became king in his place.
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2 Chronicles 28
28
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what is right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David did.
2 Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. Moreover, he also cast statues for the Baals.
3 It is he who burned incense in the Valley of the son of Hinnom. And he purified his sons by fire, in accord with the ritual of the nations that the Lord put to death at the advent of the sons of Israel.
4 Also, he was sacrificing and burning incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
5 And so the Lord, his God, delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, who struck him and took great plunder from his kingdom. And he carried it away to Damascus. Also, he was delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, and he struck him with great affliction.
6 And Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed, on one day, one hundred twenty thousand, all of them men of war from Judah, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.
7 In the same time, Zichri, a powerful man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the son of the king, and Azrikam, the governor of his house, and also Elkanah, who was second to the king.
8 And the sons of Israel seized, from their brothers, two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls, and immense plunder. And they took it away to Samaria.
9 At that time, there was a prophet of the Lord there, named Oded. And going out to meet the army arriving in Samaria, he said to them: "Behold, the Lord, the God of your fathers, having become angry against Judah, has delivered them into your hands. But you have killed them by atrocities, so that your cruelty has reached up to heaven.
10 Moreover, you wanted to subjugate the sons of Judah and Jerusalem as your men and women servants, which is a work that should never be done. And so you sinned in this matter against the Lord your God.
11 But listen to my counsel, and release the captives, whom you have brought from your brothers. For a great fury of the Lord is hanging over you."
12 And so, some of the leaders 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, stood up against those who were arriving from the battle.
13 And they said to them: "You shall not lead back captives to here, lest we sin against the Lord. Why are you willing to add to our sins, and to build upon our old offenses? For indeed, the sin is great, and the furious anger of the Lord is hanging over Israel."
14 And the warriors released the spoils and all that they had seized, in the sight of the leaders and the entire multitude.
15 And the men, whom we mentioned above, rose up and took the captives. All those who were naked, they clothed from the spoils. And when they had clothed them, and had given them shoes, and had refreshed them with food and drink, and had anointed them because of the hardship, and had cared for them, whoever was not able to walk and whoever was feeble in body, they set them upon beasts of burden, and they led them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers, and they themselves returned to Samaria.
16 In that time, king Ahaz sent to the king of the Assyrians, requesting assistance.
17 And the Edomites arrived and struck down many of Judah, and they seized great plunder.
18 Also, the Philistines spread out among the cities of the plains, and to the south of Judah. And they seized Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and also Soco, and Timnah, and Gimzo, with their villages, and they lived in them.
19 For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz, the king of Judah, since he had stripped it of help, and had shown contempt for the Lord.
20 And he led against him Tilgath-pilneser, the king of the Assyrians, who also afflicted him and laid waste to him, without resistance.
21 And so Ahaz, despoiling the house of the Lord, and the house of the kings and the leaders, gave gifts to the king of the Assyrians, and yet it profited him nothing.
22 Moreover, in the time of his anguish, he also added to his contempt against the Lord. King Ahaz himself, by himself,
23 immolated victims to the gods of Damascus, those who had struck him. And he said: "The gods of the kings of Syria assist them, and so I will please them with victims, and they will help me." But to the contrary, they had been the ruin of him and of all Israel.
24 And so, Ahaz, having despoiled and broken apart all the vessels of the house of God, closed up the doors of the temple of God, and made for himself altars in all the corners of Jerusalem.
25 Also, he constructed altars in all the cities of Judah, in order to burn frankincense, and so he provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to wrath.
26 But the rest of his words, and all his works, the first and the last, have been written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers. And they buried him in the city of Jerusalem. And they did not allow him to be in the sepulchers of the kings of Israel. And his son, Hezekiah, reigned in his place.
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