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 when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not do what was right in the Lord's sight as his forefather David had.

2 and was as sinful as the kings of Israel had been. He made idols of the god Baal.

He followed the example of the kings of Israel, and also cast metal idols for worshiping 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.

He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, and sacrificed his children in the fire, following the disgusting practices of the peoples the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

4 Ahaz offered sacrifices [to idols] at shrines on hilltops and under every big green tree.

He presented sacrifices and burned incense offerings on the high places, on the mountain tops, and under every living 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.

As a result, the Lord his God let the king of Aram to conquer Ahaz. The Arameans attacked him and captured many of his people, taking them to Damascus. Ahaz was also defeated by the king of Israel in a massive attack.

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].

In just one day, Pekah, son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 fighting men in Judah, because they had abandoned 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.

Zichri, a warrior from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the son of the king; Azrikam, the palace governor; and Elkanah, the king's second-in-command.

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.

The Israelites captured 200,000 of their “brothers”—women, sons, and daughters. They also took a great deal of plunder and brought it 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 named Oded was there in Samaria, and he went out to meet the returning army. He told them, “It was because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah that he allowed you to defeat them. But you have killed them with such fury that it has upset 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!

Now you're planning to turn these people from Judah and Jerusalem into slaves. But aren't you also guilty of sinning against the Lord your God?

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].”

Listen to me! Return the prisoners you've taken from your brothers, the fierce anger of the Lord is falling upon 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.

Some of the leaders of the people of Ephraim—Azariah, son of Jehohanan, Berechiah, son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah, son of Shallum, and Amasa, son of Hadlai—stood up in opposition against those returning 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!”

“Don't you bring those prisoners here!” they told them. “If you do you will only add to our sins and wrongdoing against the Lord. Our guilt is already great, and his fierce anger is falling upon 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 left the prisoners and the plunder before the leaders and all the people gathered there.

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.

The men named above got up and took clothes from the plunder to those that had none, gave them sandals to wear, and food and drink, and put olive oil on their wounds. Those who couldn't walk any more they put on donkeys, and took them all to Jericho, the town of palms, to be close to the people of Judah.

16 About that time, King Ahaz sent [a message] to the king of Assyria requesting help.

It was then that King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help.

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.

The armies of Edom had once again invaded Judah and taken people prisoner,

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.

while the Philistines had attacked the towns in the foothills and the Negev of Judah. They had captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, along with Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo and their villages.

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.

The Lord had brought Judah down because Ahaz, king of Israel, was out of control in Judah, sinning terribly 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.

So Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to Ahaz but attacked rather than helped 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.

Ahaz took what was valuable from the Lord's Temple, the king's palace, and from his officials and gave them to the king of Assyria as tribute. But it didn't help him.

22 While King Ahaz was experiencing those troubles, he disobeyed Yahweh even more.

Even at this time when he was having so much trouble, King Ahaz sinned more and more 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.

He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, whose army had defeated him, for he said to himself, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I'll sacrifice to them so they can help me.” But this led to the ruin of Ahaz and 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.

Ahaz took the sacred items from the Lord's Temple and smashed them to pieces. He barred the doors of the Lord's Temple and set up pagan altars on every corner in 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.

In every town throughout Judah he set up high places to make offerings to pagan gods, angering the Lord, the God of his forefathers.

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’.

The rest of what Ahaz did, from beginning to end, is written down 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.

Ahaz died, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem. They did not bury him in the tombs of the kings of Israel. Hezekiah his son took over as king.