16During the seventeenth year of the reign of Remaliah's son Pekah, Jotham's son Ahaz became king of Judah.H7651H6240H8141H8141H6492H1121H7425H271H1121H3147H4428H3063H4427 2Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not practice what the Lord considered to be right, as had his ancestor David.H6242H8141H1121H271H4427H4427H8337H6240H8141H3389H6213H3477H5869H3068H430H1732H1 3Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the Lord evicted from the land right in front of the Israelites.H3212H1870H4428H3478H1121H5674H784H8441H1471H3068H3423H6440H1121H3478 4Furthermore, Ahaz sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.H2076H6999H1116H1389H7488H6086 5Later, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah's son Peka, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem to attack it. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.H7526H4428H758H6492H1121H7425H4428H3478H5927H3389H4421H6696H271H3201H3898 6But at that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, completely removing the Judeans from Elath. Then the Arameans returned to Elath and have remained there to this day.H6256H7526H4428H758H7725H359H758H130H5394H3064H359H726H935H359H3427H3117 7So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria to tell him, "I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me."H271H7971H4397H8407H4428H804H559H5650H1121H5927H3467H3709H4428H758H3709H4428H3478H6965 8Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the Lord's temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria,H271H3947H3701H2091H4672H1004H3068H214H4428H1004H7971H7810H4428H804 9so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.H4428H804H8085H4428H804H5927H1834H8610H1540H7024H4191H7526 10King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Urijah the priest.H4428H271H3212H1834H7125H8407H4428H804H7200H4196H1834H4428H271H7971H223H3548H1823H4196H8403H4639 11Urijah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.H223H3548H1129H4196H4428H271H7971H1834H223H3548H6213H4428H271H935H1834 12When the king returned from Damascus, as soon as he saw the altar, he approached it and offered sacrifices on it.H4428H935H1834H4428H7200H4196H4428H7126H4196H5927 13He presented a burnt offering, a meat offering, poured out a drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of a peace offering on his altar.H6999H5930H4503H5258H5262H2236H1818H8002H4196 14Then he took the bronze altar that stood in the Lord's presence from in front of the temple, moved it to the north side of his altar,H7126H5178H4196H6440H3068H6440H1004H4196H1004H3068H5414H6828H3409H4196 15and issued these orders to Urijah the priest: "Burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, the whole burnt offering, the grain offering, and the drink offering on behalf of all the people of the land on the large altar. And sprinkle all the blood from the burnt offering and from the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask God questions."H4428H271H6680H223H3548H559H1419H4196H6999H1242H5930H6153H4503H4428H5930H4503H5930H5971H776H4503H5262H2236H1818H5930H1818H2077H5178H4196H1239 16So Urijah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered.H6213H223H3548H4428H271H6680 17Later, King Ahaz ordered the side panels removed from the bases, along with the washing bowls that had stood on top of the bases. He also removed the large bowl that was called the Sea from on top of the bronze bulls that supported it, and put it on a stone base.H4428H271H7112H4526H4350H5493H3595H3381H3220H5178H1241H5414H4837H68 18Then Ahaz removed the covered walkway for use on the Sabbath that they had built in the temple. Because of the king of Assyria, he also removed the outside entrance from the Lord's temple that had been built exclusively for the king.H4329H4329H7676H1129H1004H4428H3996H2435H5437H1004H3068H6440H4428H804 19Now the rest of Ahaz's activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?H3499H1697H271H6213H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H3063 20Later, Ahaz died, as did his ancestors, and was buried alongside his ancestors in the city of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.H271H7901H1H6912H1H5892H1732H2396H1121H4427
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