2 Chronicles 28:22-25

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. ¹  He reasoned, ²  “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. 28:24 Ahaz gathered the items in God’s temple and removed them. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and erected altars on every street corner in Jerusalem. 28:25 In every city throughout Judah he set up high places to offer sacrifices to other gods. He angered the Lord God of his ancestors.

2 Chronicles 33:4-10

33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” ³  33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 33:6 He passed his sons through the fire ⁴  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. ⁵  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. ⁶  33:7 He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. ⁷  33:8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, ⁸  provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.” 33:9 But Manasseh misled the people of ⁹  Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

33:10 The Lord confronted ¹⁰  Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

2 Chronicles 33:22-23

33:22 He did evil in the sight of ¹¹  the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped ¹²  them. 33:23 He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. ¹³  Amon was guilty of great sin. ¹⁴ 

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “said.”

³ tn Heb “In Jerusalem my name will be permanently.”

⁴ tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

⁵ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

⁶ tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

⁷ tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name permanently” (or perhaps “forever”).

⁸ tn Heb “I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I established for their fathers.”

⁹ tn Heb “misled Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.

¹⁰ tn Heb “spoke to.”

¹¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

¹² tn Or “served.”

¹³ tn Heb “as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “for he, Amon, multiplied guilt.”