2Ki 15:38-16:20, 2Ch 27:9-28:27, Isa 7:1-13 | ESV | STEP | Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father , and Ahaz his son reigned in his place .

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was ^atwenty 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 his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. ^bHe even burned his son as an offering, ^{▼▼Or made his son pass through the fire} ^daccording to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 ^eAnd he sacrificed and made offerings ^fon the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

5 ^gThen Rezin king of Syria and ^hPekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz ⁱbut could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered ^jElath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from ^kElath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7 ^lSo Ahaz sent messengers to ^mTiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also ⁿtook the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 ^oAnd the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus ^pand took it, carrying its people captive to ^qKir, and he killed Rezin.

10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^rTiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to ^sUriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. ^tThen the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And ^uthe bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed ^vfrom the front of the house, from the place between ^whis altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of ^xhis altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn ^ythe morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but ^zthe bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down ^aathe sea ^{▼▼Compare 1 Kings 7:23} from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written ^acin the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and ^adwas buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

2 Chronicles 27:9

9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

2 Chronicles 28

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

1 ^aeAhaz 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 his father David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made ^afmetal images for ^agthe Baals, 3 and ^ahhe made offerings in the ^aiValley of the Son of Hinnom and ^ajburned his sons as an offering, ^{▼▼Hebrew made his sons pass through the fire} according to ^althe abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and ^ammade offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Judah Defeated

5 ^anTherefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. 6 For ^aoPekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king.

8 The men of Israel took captive 200,000 ^apof their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^aqwas angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage ^arthat has reached up to heaven. 10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? 11 Now hear me, and send back the captives ^asfrom your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

12 Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war 13 and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. 15 And ^atthe men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, ^auprovided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, ^avthe city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

16 ^awAt that time King Ahaz sent to the king ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate (compare 2 Kings 16:7); Hebrew kings} of Assyria for help. 17 For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. 18 ^ayAnd the Philistines had made raids on ^azthe cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco ^bawith its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. 19 For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made ^bbJudah act sinfully ^{▼▼Or wildly} and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. 20 So ^bdTiglath-pileser ^{▼▼Hebrew Tilgath-pilneser} king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 ^bfFor Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.

Ahaz’s Idolatry

22 In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. 23 For ^bghe sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, ^bh“Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and ^bicut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself ^bjaltars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to ^bkmake offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. 26 ^blNow the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for ^bmthey did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Isaiah 7:1-13

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

1 In the days of ^bnAhaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, ^boRezin the king of Syria and ^bpPekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, ^bq“Syria is in league with ^{▼▼Hebrew Syria has rested upon} ^bsEphraim,” the heart of Ahaz ^{▼▼Hebrew his heart} and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and ^buShear-jashub ^{▼▼ Shear-jashub means A remnant shall return} your son, at the end of ^bwthe conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, ^bx‘Be careful, ^bybe quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two ^bzsmoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and ^cathe son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and ^cbthe son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it ^{▼▼Hebrew let us split it open} for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God:

^cd“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is ^ceDamascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is ^cfthe son of Remaliah.
^cgIf you ^{▼▼The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 9, 13, 14} are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.’”

The Sign of Immanuel

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask ^cia sign of the Lord your ^{▼▼The Hebrew for you and your is singular in verses 11, 16, 17} God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he ^{▼▼That is, Isaiah} said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you ^clweary my God also?