2 Kings 16:10-18

10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction.

11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned.

12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings^[a] on it.

13 He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar.

14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the LORD, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the LORD—and put it on the north side of the new altar.

15 King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”

16 And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base.

18 He took away the Sabbath canopy^[b] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the LORD, in deference to the king of Assyria.

2 Kings 16:10-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 16

This chapter contains the reign of Ahaz only, relates his idolatry, 2Ki 16:1-4 his hiring the king of Assyria with the treasure of the temple, and his own, to assist him against the kings of Israel and Syria, who besieged him, 2Ki 16:5-9, his seeing the altar of an idol at Damascus, the fashion of which he took, and ordered one like it to be built at Jerusalem, 2Ki 16:10-16, his defacing and removing some things in the temple, 2Ki 16:17,18, and the chapter is concluded with his death and burial, 2Ki 16:19,20.

Cross References

• 1. ver 11,15,16; Isaiah 8:2
• 2. 2 Chronicles 26:16
• 3. Leviticus 6:8-13
• 4. Leviticus 6:14-23
• 5. S Exodus 29:40
• 6. Leviticus 7:11-21
• 7. S Exodus 20:24; S Exodus 40:6; S 1 Kings 8:64; 2 Chronicles 4:1
• 8. Exodus 29:38-41
• 9. 1 Samuel 9:9
• 10. 1 Kings 7:27
• 11. Ezekiel 16:28

Footnotes

• [a] Or "and went up"
• [b] Or "the dais of his throne" (see Septuagint)