28:16 At that time King Ahaz asked the king 1 of Assyria for help. 28:17 The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried off captives. 28:18 The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the lowlands 2 and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages. 28:19 The Lord humiliated 3 Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, 4 for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very 5 unfaithful to the Lord. 28:20 King Tiglath-pileser 6 of Assyria came, but he gave him more trouble than support. 7 28:21 Ahaz gathered riches 8 from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.
28:22 During his time of trouble King Ahaz was even more unfaithful to the Lord. 28:23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus whom he thought had defeated him. 9 He reasoned, 10 “Since the gods of the kings of Damascus helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they caused him and all Israel to stumble.
1 tc Most Hebrew
2 tn Heb “Shephelah.”
3 tn Or “subdued.”
4 sn That is, “of Judah.” Frequently in 2 Chronicles “Israel” is substituted for “Judah.”
5 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the degree of Ahaz’s unfaithfulness.
6 tn Heb “Tilgath-pilneser,” a variant spelling of Tiglath-pileser.
7 tn Heb “and he caused him distress and did not strengthen him.”
8 tn Heb “divided up,” but some read חִלֵּץ (khillets, “despoiled”).
9 tn Heb “the gods of Damascus, the ones who had defeated him.” The words “he thought” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The perspective is that of Ahaz, not the narrator! Another option is that “the kings” has been accidentally omitted after “gods of.” See v. 23b.
10 tn Heb “said.”