2 Kings 16:3-4

16:3 He followed in the footsteps of ¹  the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, ²  a horrible sin practiced by the nations ³  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 16:4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

2 Kings 16:10-12

16:10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. ⁴  King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design. ⁵  16:11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. ⁶  Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus. ⁷  16:12 When the king arrived back from Damascus and ⁸  saw the altar, he approached it ⁹  and offered a sacrifice on it. ¹⁰ 

2 Kings 16:2

16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ¹¹  He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. ¹² 

2 Kings 1:2-4

1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria ¹³  and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, ¹⁴  “Go, ask ¹⁵  Baal Zebub, ¹⁶  the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”

1:3 But the Lord’s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. ¹⁷  1:4 Therefore this is what the Lord says, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.

2 Kings 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “he walked in the way of.”

² sn This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice. For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

³ tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”

⁴ tn Heb “in Damascus.”

⁵ tn Heb “the likeness of the altar and its pattern for all its work.”

⁶ tn Heb “according to all that King Ahaz sent from Damascus.”

⁷ tn Heb “so Uriah the priest did, until the arrival of King Ahaz from Damascus.”

⁸ tn Heb “and the king.”

⁹ tn Heb “the altar.”

¹⁰ tn Or “ascended it.”

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹² tn Heb “and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord his God, like David his father.”

¹³ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”

¹⁵ tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”

¹⁶ sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal corruption of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.

¹⁷ tn Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are going to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question.

¹⁸ sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.