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2 Chronicles 28

New Living Translation NLT

1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the LORD, as his ancestor David had done.

2 Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel. He cast metal images for the worship of Baal.

3 He offered sacrifices in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire. In this way, he followed the detestable practices of the pagan nations the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.

5 Because of all this, the LORD his God allowed the king of Aram to defeat Ahaz and to exile large numbers of his people to Damascus. The armies of the king of Israel also defeated Ahaz and inflicted many casualties on his army.

6 In a single day Pekah son of Remaliah, Israel’s king, killed 120,000 of Judah’s troops, all of them experienced warriors, because they had abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

7 Then Zicri, a warrior from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king’s son; Azrikam, the king’s palace commander; and Elkanah, the king’s second-in-command.

8 The armies of Israel captured 200,000 women and children from Judah and seized tremendous amounts of plunder, which they took back to Samaria.

9 But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there in Samaria when the army of Israel returned home. He went out to meet them and said, “The LORD, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and let you defeat them. But you have gone too far, killing them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed.

10 And now you are planning 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 prisoners you have taken, for they are your own relatives. Watch out, because now the LORD ’s fierce anger has been turned against you!”

12 Then some of the leaders of Israel —Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—agreed with this and confronted the men returning from battle.

13 “You must not bring the prisoners here!” they declared. “We cannot afford to add to our sins and guilt. Our guilt is already great, and the LORD ’s fierce anger is already turned against Israel.”

14 So the warriors released the prisoners and handed over the plunder in the sight of the leaders and all the people.

15 Then the four men just mentioned by name came forward and distributed clothes from the plunder to the prisoners who were naked. They provided clothing and sandals to wear, gave them enough food and drink, and dressed their wounds with olive oil. They put those who were weak on donkeys and took all the prisoners back to their own people in Jericho, the city of palms. Then they returned to Samaria.

16 At that time King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria for help.

17 The armies of Edom had again invaded Judah and taken captives.

18 And the Philistines had raided towns located in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev of Judah. They had already captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages.

19 The LORD was humbling Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah, for he had encouraged his people to sin and had been utterly unfaithful to the LORD .

20 So when King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria arrived, he attacked Ahaz instead of helping him.

21 Ahaz took valuable items from the LORD ’s Temple, the royal palace, and from the homes of his officials and gave them to the king of Assyria as tribute. But this did not help him.

22 Even during this time of trouble, King Ahaz continued to reject the LORD .

23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, for he said, “Since these gods helped the kings of Aram, they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them.” But instead, they led to his ruin and the ruin of all Judah.

24 The king took the various articles from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. He shut the doors of the LORD ’s Temple so that no one could worship there, and he set up altars to pagan gods in every corner of Jerusalem.

25 He made pagan shrines in all the towns of Judah for offering sacrifices to other gods. In this way, he aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of his ancestors.

26 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign and everything he did, from beginning to end, are recorded in <em>The Book of Kings of Judah and Israel</em>

27 When Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal cemetery of the kings of Judah. Then his son Hezekiah became the next king.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn't live right in the eyes of God; he wasn't at all like his ancestor David.

2 Instead he followed in the track of Israel in the north, even casting metal figurines for worshiping the pagan Baal gods.

3 He participated in the outlawed burning of incense in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and - incredibly! - indulged in the outrageous practice of "passing his sons through the fire," a truly abominable thing he picked up from the pagans God had earlier thrown out of the country.

4 He also joined in the activities of the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines that flourished all over the place.

5 God, fed up, handed him over to the king of Aram, who beat him badly and took many prisoners to Damascus. God also let the king of Israel loose on him and that resulted in a terrible slaughter:

6 Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in one day, all of them first-class soldiers, and all because they had deserted God, the God of their ancestors.

7 Furthermore, Zicri, an Ephraimite hero, killed the king's son Maaseiah, Azrikam the palace steward, and Elkanah, second in command to the king.

8 And that wasn't the end of it - the Israelites captured 200,000 men, women, and children, besides huge cartloads of plunder that they took to Samaria.

9 God's prophet Oded was in the neighborhood. He met the army when it entered Samaria and said, "Stop right where you are and listen! God, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and used you to punish them; but you took things into your own hands and used your anger, uncalled for and irrational,

10 to turn your brothers and sisters from Judah and Jerusalem into slaves. Don't you see that this is a terrible sin against your God?

11 Careful now; do exactly what I say - return these captives, every last one of them. If you don't, you'll find out how real anger, God's anger, works."

12 Some of their Ephraimite leaders - Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai - stood up against the returning army

13 and said, "Don't bring the captives here! We've already sinned against God; and now you are about to compound our sin and guilt. We're guilty enough as it is, enough to set off an explosion of divine anger."

14 So the soldiers turned over both the captives and the plunder to the leaders and the people.

15 Personally designated men gathered the captives together, dressed the ones who were naked using clothing from the stores of plunder, put shoes on their feet, gave them all a square meal, provided first aid to the injured, put the weak ones on donkeys, and then escorted them to Jericho, the City of Palms, restoring them to their families. Then they went back to Samaria.

16 At about that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria asking for personal help.

17 The Edomites had come back and given Judah a bad beating, taking off a bunch of captives.

18 Adding insult to injury the Philistines raided the cities in the foothills to the west and the southern desert and captured Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, along with Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages, and moved in, making themselves at home.

19 Arrogant King Ahaz, acting as if he could do without God's help, had unleashed an epidemic of depravity. Judah, brought to its knees by God, was now reduced to begging for a handout.

20 But the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser, wouldn't help - he came instead and humiliated Ahaz even more by attacking and bullying him.

21 Desperate, Ahaz ransacked The Temple of God, the royal palace, and every other place he could think of, scraping together everything he could, and gave it to the king of Assyria - and got nothing in return, not a bit of help.

22 But King Ahaz didn't learn his lesson - at the very time that everyone was turning against him, he continued to be against God!

23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus. He had just been defeated by Damascus; he thought, "If I worship the gods who helped Damascus, those gods just might help me too." But things only went from bad to worse: first Ahaz in ruins and then the country.

24 He cleaned out The Temple of God of everything useful and valuable, boarded up the doors of The Temple, and then went out and set up pagan shrines for his own use all over Jerusalem.

25 And not only in Jerusalem, but all over Judah - neighborhood shrines for worshiping any and every god on sale. And was God ever angry!

26 The rest of Ahaz's infamous life, all that he did from start to finish, is written in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

27 When Ahaz died, they buried him in Jerusalem, but he was not honored with a burial in the cemetery of the kings. His son Hezekiah was the next king.