2 Kings 16 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Ahaz, son of Jotham, became king of Judah in the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah, son of Remaliah.
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 twenty when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. But unlike David his forefather, he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God.
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in Yahweh his God’s eyes, like David his father.
3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and he even sacrificed his son in the fire, participating in the disgusting practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed and presented burnt offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
4 He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came and attacked Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but couldn't defeat him.
5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.
6 This was when Rezin, king of Aram, recovered Elath for Edom. He expelled the people of Judah, and sent Edomites to Elath, where they still live to this day.
6 At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and live there to this day.
7 Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying, “I'm your servant, and your son. Please come and rescue me from the kings of Aram and Israel who are attacking me.”
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.”
8 Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Lord's Temple and from the treasuries of the king's palace, and he sent it to the king of Assyria as a gift.
8 Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in Yahweh’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
9 The king of Assyria responded positively to him. He went and attacked Damascus, and captured it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and executed Rezin.
9 The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.
10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. During his visit he saw an altar in Damascus, and he sent Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar, along with instructions how to build it.
10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it.
11 So Uriah the priest built an altar following all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, completing it before King Ahaz returned.
11 Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.
12 When the king came back from Damascus he saw the altar. He went over to it and made offerings on it.
12 When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it.
13 He presented his burnt offering and his grain offering, he poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his friendship offerings on it.
13 He burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
14 He also moved the bronze altar that stood before the Lord from the front of the Temple, between the new altar and the Lord's Temple, and he placed it to the north of the new altar.
14 The bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and Yahweh’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar.
15 Then King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest: “Use this new important altar to offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people, and their grain offerings and their drink offerings. Sprinkle on this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. The old bronze altar I'll use for divination.”
15 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.”
16 Uriah the priest followed King Ahaz's orders.
16 Urijah the priest did so, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.
17 King Ahaz also removed the frames of the movable carts, and also took out the bronze basin from each of them. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls it rested on and placed it on a stone pedestal.
17 King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.
18 He took down the Sabbath canopy they had built in the Temple, as well as the king's outer entrance to the Lord's Temple. He did this to please the king of Assyria.
18 He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance to Yahweh’s house, because of the king of Assyria.
19 The rest of what happened in Ahaz's reign and all he did are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 Ahaz died and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.
20 Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Ahaz
A faithless king who courted Assyria and even sacrificed his own son.
Cited in the guide: 2 Kings 16; 2 Chron. 28; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:9
Remaliah
Named as the father of Pekah, king of Israel.
Cited in the guide: 2 Kings 15:25; 2 Kings 15:27; 2 Kings 16:5
Rezin
King of Aram who with Pekah of Israel besieged Ahaz in Jerusalem, recovered Elath, and was put to death when Tiglath-pileser captured Damascus.
Cited in the guide: 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5; 2 Kings 16:6
Tiglath-pileser
King of Assyria who captured Ijon, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead and Galilee in Pekah's days, deporting the people, and whom Ahaz paid to attack Aram and Israel. 1 Chronicles 5:26…
Cited in the guide: 2 Kings 15:19; 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:7
Uriah
The priest who built an altar in Jerusalem according to the plans King Ahaz sent from Damascus and offered on it at the king's command. Isaiah 8:2 names Uriah the priest as a…
Cited in the guide: 2 Kings 16:10; 2 Kings 16:11; 2 Kings 16:15
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 1:1; 2 Kings 15:27–30; 2 Kings 15:32–33; 2 Chronicles 28:1–4; Hosea 1:1
- 2 2 Chronicles 28:1–4; 2 Kings 18:3; 1 Kings 11:4–8; 2 Kings 22:2; 2 Chronicles 17:3
- 3 Deuteronomy 12:31; Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 21:2; 2 Kings 17:17; Psalm 106:37–38
- 4 Deuteronomy 12:2; 1 Kings 14:23; Isaiah 57:5–7; Jeremiah 17:2; Isaiah 65:4
- 5 2 Kings 15:37; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:9–10; Isaiah 7:1–9; Isaiah 9:6–7
- 6 2 Kings 14:22; 1 Kings 9:26; Deuteronomy 2:8; 2 Chronicles 26:2
- 7 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Chronicles 28:16; 1 Chronicles 5:26; Hosea 14:3; Psalm 146:3–5
- 8 2 Kings 12:17–18; Psalm 7:15–16; Isaiah 8:7–8; 2 Kings 16:17–18; 2 Chronicles 28:20–21
- 9 Amos 9:7; Isaiah 22:6; Amos 1:3–5; Isaiah 7:16; 2 Chronicles 28:21
- 10 Romans 12:2; Isaiah 8:2; Ezekiel 23:16–17; Psalm 106:39; 2 Kings 15:29
- 11 Ezekiel 22:26; 1 Kings 21:11–13; Malachi 2:7–9; Daniel 3:7; 2 Chronicles 26:17–18
- 12 2 Chronicles 26:16–19; 2 Chronicles 28:25; Numbers 18:4–7; 1 Kings 13:1; 2 Chronicles 28:23
- 13 Leviticus 1:1–3
- 14 2 Chronicles 4:1; Exodus 40:6; Exodus 40:29; Matthew 23:35; 2 Chronicles 1:5
- 15 Exodus 29:39–41; 2 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 8:64; 2 Chronicles 29:21–24; Genesis 44:5
- 16 Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29; Jude 11; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 2 Kings 16:11
- 17 2 Chronicles 29:19; Jeremiah 52:20; 2 Kings 25:13–16; 2 Chronicles 4:14–15; 2 Chronicles 28:24
- 18 Ezekiel 46:2; 2 Kings 11:5; 1 Kings 10:5
- 19 2 Chronicles 28:26; 2 Kings 15:6–7; 1 Kings 14:29; 2 Kings 15:38; 2 Kings 20:20–21
- 20 Isaiah 1:1; Matthew 1:9; 2 Chronicles 28:27–29:1; Hosea 1:1; Micah 1:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences