CHAPTER 16
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, reigned.
2 Ahaz was of twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; he did not that, that was pleasant in the sight of his Lord God, as David, his father, did,
3 but he went in the way of the kings of Israel. Furthermore and he hallowed his son, and bare, or drew him, through the fire, after the idols of heathen men, which the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.
4 And he offered sacrifices, and burnt incense in high places, and in hills, and under each tree full of boughs.
5 Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up into Jerusalem to fight with Ahaz; and when they besieged Ahaz, they might not overcome him.
6 In that time Rezin, king of Syria, restored Elath to Syria, and casted out the Jews from Elath; and Idumeans and men of Syria came into Elath, and dwelled there till into this day.
7 Forsooth Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyrians, and said, I am thy servant and thy son; go thou up, and make me safe from the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel, that have risen together against me.
8 And when Ahaz had gathered together silver and gold, that might be found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures [or treasuries] of the king, he sent gifts to the king of Assyrians;
9 and he assented to his will. Soothly the king of Assyrians went up into Damascus, and wasted it, and translated or brought over the dwellers thereof to Kir; soothly he killed Rezin.
10 And king Ahaz went into meeting to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyrians; and when king Ahaz had seen the altar of Damascus, he sent into Jerusalem to Urijah, the priest, the exemplar and [the] likeness thereof, by all the work thereof.
11 And Urijah, the priest, builded an altar by all things that king Ahaz had commanded from Damascus; so did the priest Urijah, till king Ahaz came from Damascus.
12 And when the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar, and worshipped on it;
13 and he went up, and offered burnt sacrifices, and his sacrifice; and he offered moist [or liquor] sacrifices, and he poured the blood of peace-able things, which he had offered, on the altar.
14 Forsooth he did away the brazen altar, that was before the Lord, from the face of the temple, and from between the place of the new altar, and the place of the temple of the Lord; and setted [or put] it on the side of the new altar at the north or he set God’s altar at the north side of his altar.
15 Also king Ahaz commanded to Urijah, the priest, and said, Offer thou upon the more altar, that is, on the new altar, the burnt sacrifice of the morrowtide, and the sacrifice of the eventide, and the burnt sacrifice of the king, and the grain sacrifice of him, and the burnt sacrifice of all the people of the land, and the grain sacrifices of them, and the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of them; and thou shalt pour out upon that new altar all the blood of [the] burnt sacrifice, and all the blood of [the] slain sacrifice; soothly the brazen altar shall be [made] ready at my will.
16 Therefore Urijah, the priest, did by all things that king Ahaz had commanded to him.
17 Forsooth king Ahaz took away the painted foundaments or bases of the pillars, and the washing vessel, that was set above, and he put down the sea, that is, the washing vessel for priests, from [off] the brazen oxen, that sustained it, and he setted [or put]it on the pavement arrayed with stone.
18 Also he turned the chamber of [the] sabbath, which he had builded in the temple, and he turned the entering of the king withoutforth into the temple of the Lord, for to please the king of Assyrians.
19 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Ahaz, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?
20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David; and Hezekiah, his son, reigned for him.