2 Chronicles 28

¹ Ahaz was twenty years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for sixteen years inJerusalem. He did not do what Yahweh regards as right, as his ancestor David had done.

² He followed the example of the kings of Israel, even having images cast for the Baals;

³ he burned incense in the Val ey of Ben-Hinnom, caused his sons to pass through the fire of sacrifice,copying the disgusting practices of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed for the Israelites.

⁴ He offered sacrifices and incense on the high places, on the hil s and under every green tree.

⁵ So Yahweh his God put him at the mercy of the king of Aram, who defeated him and took largenumbers of captives, carrying them off to Damascus. He also put him at the mercy of the king of Israel, whoinflicted heavy casualties on him.

⁶ In a single day, Pekah son of Remaliah kil ed a hundred and twenty thousand in Judah, al of themprominent men, because they had abandoned Yahweh, God of their ancestors.

⁷ Zichri, an Ephraimite champion, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the control er of thehousehold and Elkanah the king's second-in-command.

⁸ Of their brothers, the Israelites took two hundred thousand captive including wives, sons, daughters;they also took quantities of booty, carrying everything off to Samaria.

⁹ Now there was a prophet of Yahweh there by the name of Oded, who went out to meet the troopsreturning to Samaria and said, 'Look, because Yahweh, God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he putthem at your mercy, but you have slaughtered them with such fury as reached to heaven,

¹⁰ and now you propose to reduce the children of Judah and Jerusalem to being your male and femaleslaves! Have you not yourselves committed sins against Yahweh your God?

¹¹ Now listen to me: release the captives you have taken from your brothers, for the fierce anger ofYahweh hangs over you.'

¹² Some of the Ephraimite chieftains -- Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechaiah son of Meshil emoth,Jehizkiah son of Shal um and Amasa son of Hadlai -- then protested to those returning from the war

¹³ and said to them, 'You must not bring the captives here, for we have already sinned against Yahwehand you propose to add to our sin and guilt, although our guilt is already great, and fierce anger is hanging overIsrael.'

¹⁴ So in the presence of the officials and whole assembly, the soldiers gave up the captives and thebooty.

¹⁵ Men nominated for the purpose then took charge of the captives. From the booty they clothed althose of them who were naked; they gave them clothing and sandals, provided them with food and drink,mounted on donkeys al those who were infirm and took them back to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to theirbrothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ This was when King Ahaz sent asking the king of Assyria to come to his assistance.

¹⁷ The Edomites again invaded, defeated Judah, and carried off captives,

¹⁸ while the Philistines raided the towns in the lowlands and in the Negeb of Judah, capturing Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its dependencies, Timnah and its dependencies and Gimzo and itsdependencies, and settled there.

¹⁹ For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, since he behaved without restraint inJudah and had been unfaithful to Yahweh.

²⁰ Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria attacked and besieged him; but he could not overpower him.

²¹ Although Ahaz robbed the Temple of Yahweh and the palaces of the king and princes and gave theproceeds to the king of Assyria, he received no help from him.

²² During the time when he was under siege he disobeyed Yahweh even more grossly, this King Ahaz.

²³ For he offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him. 'Since the gods of thekings of Aram', he thought, 'have supported them, I shal sacrifice to them, and perhaps they will help me.' Butthey proved to be his and al Israel's downfal .

²⁴ Ahaz then collected the equipment of the Temple of God, broke up the equipment of the Temple ofGod, sealed the doors of the Temple of Yahweh and put his own altars in every corner of Jerusalem;

²⁵ he set up high places in every town of Judah to burn incense to other gods, thus provoking the angerof Yahweh, God of his ancestors.

²⁶ The rest of his history, his whole policy, from first to last, is recorded in the Book of the Kings ofJudah and Israel.

²⁷ Then Ahaz fel asleep with his ancestors and was buried in the City, in Jerusalem, though he was nottaken to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him.