2 Chronicles 28

¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as David his father had done.

²And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and he also made molten images for the Baals.

³And he burned offerings in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel.

⁴And he sacrificed and burned offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵And the LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram, and they struck him and took from him a great captivity and brought them to Damascus. And also into the hand of the king of Israel he was given, and he struck him with a great blow.

⁶And Pekah son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred and twenty thousand in a single day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.

⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the commander of the palace, and Elkanah the second to the king.

⁸And the sons of Israel took captive from their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters; and they also plundered great spoil from them and brought the plunder to Samaria.

⁹And there was a prophet of the LORD named Oded, and he went out before the army coming to Samaria and said to them, Behold, because of the wrath of the LORD God of your fathers against Judah, he gave them into your hand, and you have killed them with a rage that has reached up to the heavens.

¹⁰And now, sons of Judah and Jerusalem, you are saying to subdue them as male and female servants for yourselves. But do you not also have guilt before the LORD, the God of you all?

¹¹And now, hear me, and return the captives whom you have taken captive from your brothers, for the burning anger of the LORD is upon you.

¹²And men from the heads of the sons of Ephraim arose — Azariah son of Johanan, and Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai — against those coming in from the army.

¹³And they said to them, Do not bring the captives here, for you are proposing to add to our sins and our guilt before the LORD, which is already upon us. For our guilt is great, and fierce anger is upon Israel.

¹⁴And the armed force left the captives and the plunder before the officials and all the assembly.

¹⁵And the men who were designated by name arose and took the captives, and all who were naked among them they clothed from the plunder — and they clothed them and shod them and fed them and gave them drink and anointed them — and they led all the feeble ones on donkeys and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, beside their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help.

¹⁷And again the Edomites came and struck Judah and took captives.

¹⁸And the Philistines had raided the cities of the Shephelah and the Negev of Judah, and captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Socoh and its villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages, and they settled there.

¹⁹For the LORD humbled Judah on account of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had led Judah into recklessness and had been utterly unfaithful to the LORD.

²⁰And Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him and distressed him, and did not strengthen him.

²¹For Ahaz divided up the house of the LORD and the house of the king and the officials, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was of no help to him.

²²And in the time of his distress, he continued to act unfaithfully against the LORD. This was King Ahaz.

²³And he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, saying, 'Because the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, to them I will sacrifice that they might help me.' But they became the cause of his ruin and of all Israel.

²⁴And Ahaz gathered the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and made for himself altars in every corner in Jerusalem.

²⁵And in each and every city of Judah he made high places to burn offerings to other gods, and he provoked to anger the LORD, the God of his fathers.

²⁶Now the rest of his deeds and all his ways, first and last — behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷And Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.