2 Chronicles 28
1 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became the king [of Judah]. He ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years. His ancestor King David was a good king, but Ahaz was not like David. He constantly disobeyed Yahweh
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for sixteen years; he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father:
2 and was as sinful as the kings of Israel had been. He made idols of the god Baal.
But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel and made images of metal for the Baals.
3 He burned incense in Hinnom Valley. He even [killed some of] his own sons [and] offered [them] as sacrifices to be completely burned. That imitated the disgusting customs of the people-groups who previously lived there, people whom Yahweh had expelled as the Israelis advanced through the land.
More than this, he had offerings burned in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his children go through fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.
4 Ahaz offered sacrifices [to idols] at shrines on hilltops and under every big green tree.
And he made offerings and had perfumes burned in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
5 Therefore Yahweh his God allowed his army to be defeated by the army of the king of Syria. They captured many soldiers of Judah and took them as prisoners to Damascus. The army of the king of Israel also defeated the army of Judah and killed very many of their soldiers.
So the Lord his God gave him up into the hands of the king of Aram; and they overcame him, and took away a great number of his people as prisoners to Damascus. Then he was given into the hands of the king of Israel, who sent great destruction on him.
6 In one day the army of Remaliah’s son, King Pekah [of Israel], killed 120,000 soldiers in Judah. That happened because [the people of] Judah had abandoned Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped].
For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, in one day put to death a hundred and twenty thousand men of Judah, all of them good fighting-men; because they had given up the Lord, the God of their fathers.
7 Zicri, a warrior from the tribe of Ephraim, killed king Ahaz’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam the officer in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, the king’s assistant.
And Zichri, a great fighting-man of Ephraim, put to death Maaseiah, the king's son, and Azrikam, the controller of his house, and Elkanah, who was second in authority to the king.
8 The soldiers of Israel captured 200,000 of the people of Judah, including many wives and sons and daughters [of the soldiers of Judah]. They also seized and took back to Samaria many valuable things.
And the children of Israel took away as prisoners from their brothers, two hundred thousand, women and sons and daughters, and a great store of their goods, and took them to Samaria.
9 But a prophet of Yahweh whose name was Obed was there [in Samaria]. He went out of the city to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “Because Yahweh, the God whom your ancestors [belonged to], was angry with [the people of] Judah, he allowed you to defeat them. But God has seen the cruel way that you slaughtered them.
But a prophet of the Lord was there, named Oded; and he went out in front of the army which was coming into Samaria and said to them, Truly, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them up into your hands, and you have put them to death in an outburst of wrath stretching up to heaven.
10 And now you want to [sin by] causing men and women from Judah to become your slaves, but you have certainly also sinned against Yahweh our God!
And now your purpose is to keep the children of Judah and Jerusalem as men-servants and women-servants under your yoke: but are there no sins against the Lord your God to be seen among yourselves?
11 So listen to me! Send back [to Judah] your fellow-countrymen whom you have captured, because Yahweh is extremely angry with you [for what you did to them].”
And now give ear to me, and send back the prisoners whom you have taken from your brothers: for the wrath of the Lord is burning against you.
12 Then some of the leaders of [the tribe of] Ephraim—Azariah the son of Jehohanan, Berekiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rebuked those who were returning from the battle.
Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshillemoth Jehizkiah, the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, put themselves against those who had come from the war,
13 They said to them, “You must not bring those prisoners here! If you do that, Yahweh will consider that we are guilty of sinning. We are already guilty of committing many sins; do you want to cause us to be even more guilty by committing another sin? God is already very angry with [us people of] Israel!”
And said to them, You are not to let these prisoners come here; for what you are designing to do will be a cause of sin against the Lord to us, making even greater our sin and our wrongdoing, which now are great enough, and his wrath is burning against Israel.
14 So, while their leaders and others were watching, the soldiers released the prisoners, and also gave back to them the valuable things that they had captured.
So the armed men gave up the prisoners and the goods they had taken to the heads and the meeting of the people.
15 The leaders who were selected took some of the clothes that the soldiers had taken from the prisoners and gave those clothes back to the people who were naked. They also gave to the prisoners sandals and other clothes and things to eat and drink, and they gave them olive oil to rub on their wounds. They gave donkeys to those who were very weak, in order that they could ride on them. Then they led them all to Jericho, the city that had many palm trees. Then those leaders [of Israel] returned to Samaria.
And those men who have been named went up and took the prisoners, clothing those among them who were uncovered, with things from the goods which had been taken in the war, and putting robes on them and shoes on their feet; and they gave them food and drink and oil for their bodies, and seating all the feeble among them on asses, they took them to Jericho, the town of palm-trees, to their people, and then went back to Samaria.
16 About that time, King Ahaz sent [a message] to the king of Assyria requesting help.
At that time King Ahaz sent for help to the king of Assyria.
17 [He did that because the army from] the Edom people-group had come again and attacked Judah and taken away many of the people of Judah as prisoners.
For the Edomites had come again, attacking Judah and taking away prisoners.
18 At the same time, men from Philistia had raided/attacked towns in the foothills and in the southern desert of Judah. They had captured Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth [cities], as well as Soco, Timnah and Gimzo [towns] and the nearby villages.
And the Philistines, forcing their way into the towns of the lowlands and the south of Judah, had taken Beth-shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth and Soco, with their daughter-towns, as well as Timnah and Gimzo and their daughter-towns, and were living there.
19 Yahweh [allowed those things to happen in order to] humble king Ahaz, because he had encouraged the people of Judah to do wicked things and had disobeyed Yahweh very much.
For the Lord made Judah low, because of Ahaz, king of Israel; for he had given up all self-control in Judah, sinning greatly against the Lord.
20 Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, sent [his army saying that they would] help Ahaz, but instead of helping him, they caused him to experience trouble.
Then Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to him, but was a cause of trouble and not of strength to him.
21 Ahaz’s [soldiers] took some of the [valuable] things from the temple and from the king’s palace and from other leaders of Judah and sent them to the king of Assyria [to pay him to help them], but the king of Assyria refused to help Ahaz.
For Ahaz took a part of the wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the house of the king and of the great men, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.
22 While King Ahaz was experiencing those troubles, he disobeyed Yahweh even more.
And in the time of his trouble, this same King Ahaz did even more evil against the Lord.
23 He offered sacrifices to the gods that were worshiped in Damascus, whose [army] had defeated his [army]. He thought, “The gods that are worshiped by the kings of Syria have helped them, so I will offer sacrifices to those gods in order that they will help me.” But worshiping those gods caused Ahaz and all of Israel to be ruined.
For he made offerings to the gods of Damascus, who were attacking him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Aram are giving them help, I will make offerings to them so that they may give me help. But they were the cause of his downfall, and of that of all Israel.
24 Ahaz gathered all the furnishings [that were used] in the temple and broke them into pieces. He locked the doors of the temple and set up altars [for worshiping idols] at every street corner in Jerusalem.
And Ahaz got together the vessels of the house of God, cutting up all the vessels of the house of God, and shutting the doors of the Lord's house; and he made altars in every part of Jerusalem.
25 In every town in Judah, his workers built shrines to burn sacrifices to other gods, and that caused Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped], to be very angry.
And in every town of Judah he made high places where perfumes were burned to other gods, awaking the wrath of the Lord, the God of his fathers.
26 A record of the other things that Ahaz did while he was the king, from when he started to rule until he died, is written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel’.
Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27 Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but he was not buried in the tombs where the other kings [had been buried]. Then his son Hezekiah became the king.
And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in Jerusalem; but they did not put him in the resting-place of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.
