2 Chronicles 28:1-19

Ahaz’s Reign

28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ¹  He did not do what pleased the Lord, in contrast to his ancestor David. ²  28:2 He followed in the footsteps of ³  the kings of Israel; he also made images of the Baals. 28:3 He offered sacrifices in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and passed his sons through the fire, ⁴  a horrible sin practiced by the nations ⁵  whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites. 28:4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

28:5 The Lord his God handed him over to the king of Syria. The Syrians ⁶  defeated him and deported many captives to Damascus. ⁷  He was also handed over to the king of Israel, who thoroughly defeated him. ⁸  28:6 In one day King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel killed 120,000 warriors in Judah, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. ⁹  28:7 Zikri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam, the supervisor of the palace, and Elkanah, the king’s second-in-command. 28:8 The Israelites seized from their brothers 200,000 wives, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a huge amount of plunder and took it ¹⁰  back to Samaria. ¹¹ 

28:9 Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there. He went to meet the army as they arrived in Samaria and said to them: “Look, because the Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah he handed them over to you. You have killed them so mercilessly that God has taken notice. ¹²  28:10 And now you are planning ¹³  to enslave ¹⁴  the people ¹⁵  of Judah and Jerusalem. Yet are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? 28:11 Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the Lord is very angry at you!” ¹⁶  28:12 So some of ¹⁷  the Ephraimite family leaders, Azariah son of Jehochanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jechizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai confronted ¹⁸  those returning from the battle. 28:13 They said to them, “Don’t bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the Lord? ¹⁹  Our guilt is already great and the Lord is very angry at Israel.” ²⁰  28:14 So the soldiers released the captives and the plunder before the officials and the entire assembly. 28:15 Men were assigned to take the prisoners and find clothes among the plunder for those who were naked. ²¹  So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin. ²²  They put the ones who couldn’t walk on donkeys. ²³  They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho, ²⁴  the city of the date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.

28:16 At that time King Ahaz asked the king ²⁵  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 ²⁶  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 ²⁷  Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, ²⁸  for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very ²⁹  unfaithful to the Lord.

[28:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[28:1]  ² tn Heb “and he did not do what was proper in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father.”

[28:2]  ³ tn Heb “he walked in the ways of.”

[28:3]  ⁴ sn This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB “burnt his sons in the fire”; NASB “burned his sons in 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.

[28:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”

[28:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Syrians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and took captive from him a great captivity and brought [them] to Damascus.”

[28:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “who struck him down with a great striking.”

[28:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 25).

[28:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the loot.” The pronoun (“it”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[28:8]  ¹¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[28:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and you killed them with anger [that] reaches as far as heaven.”

[28:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “saying.”

[28:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to enslave as male servants and female servants.”

[28:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[28:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for the rage of the anger of the Lord is upon you.”

[28:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “men from.”

[28:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “arose against.”

[28:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for to the guilt of the Lord upon us you are saying to add to our sins and our guilty deeds.”

[28:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for great is [the] guilt to us and rage of anger is upon Israel.”

[28:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the men who were designated by names arose and took the captives and all their naked ones they clothed from the loot.”

[28:15]  ²² tn Heb “and poured oil on them.”

[28:15]  ²³ tn Heb “and they led them on donkeys, with respect to everyone stumbling.”

[28:15]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[28:16]  ²⁵ tc Most Hebrew mss read the plural, “kings,” but one Hebrew ms, the LXX and Vulgate read the singular “king.” Note the singular in v. 20.

[28:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Shephelah.”

[28:19]  ²⁷ tn Or “subdued.”

[28:19]  ²⁸ sn That is, “of Judah.” Frequently in 2 Chronicles “Israel” is substituted for “Judah.”

[28:19]  ²⁹ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the degree of Ahaz’s unfaithfulness.