Melachim II - Chapter 16

1. In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham the king of Judah became king.

2. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord his God like David his father.

3. He went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and also he passed his son through fire in the abominable manner of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel.

4. And he slaughtered sacrifices and burnt incense on the high places and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5. Then Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war, and they besieged Ahaz, but could not wage war [with him].

6. At that time, Rezin the king of Aram restored Elath to Aram, and drove out the Judeans from Eloth, and Edomites came to Elath and dwelt there until this day.

7. And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel who have risen up against me."

8. And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's palace, and sent them to the king of Assyria as a bribe.

9. And the king of Assyria heeded him, and the king of Assyria went up to Damascus and seized it, and exiled [its inhabitants] to Kir, and he slew Rezin.

10. And King Ahaz went toward Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria to Damascus, and he saw the altar that was in Damascus, and King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship.

11. And Uriah the priest built the altar, according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus, so did Uriah the priest make it until King Ahaz came from Damascus.

12. And the king came from Damascus, and the king saw the altar, and the king approached the altar and offered up [sacrifices] thereon.

13. And he burnt his burnt-offering and his meal-offering, and he poured his libation, and he sprinkled the blood of his peace-offering on the altar.

14. And the copper altar that was before the Lord, he brought near from before the Temple, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and he placed it on the side of the altar to the north.

15. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn the the morning burnt-offering and the evening meal-offering and the king's burnt-offering and his meal-offering and the burnt-offering of the entire people of the land, and their meal- offering and their libations and the blood of every burnt-offering and the blood of every sacrifice you shall sprinkle on it, and the copper altar shall be for me to visit.

16. And Uriah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz had commanded.

17. And King Ahaz cut off the insets of the laver stands, and he removed the lavers from upon them, and he took the tank off the copper cattle that were under it, and put it on a stone floor.

18. And the Sabbath canopy that they built in the house and the king's outside entrance he switched to the house of the Lord because of the king of Assyria.

19. And the rest of Ahaz's deeds that he did are written in the book of chronicles of the kings of Judah.

20. And Ahaz slept with his forefathers and was buried with his forefathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.