2 Chronicles 28:11-27

28:11 Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the Lord is very angry at you!” ¹  28:12 So some of ²  the Ephraimite family leaders, Azariah son of Jehochanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jechizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai confronted ³  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? ⁴  Our guilt is already great and the Lord is very angry at Israel.” ⁵  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. ⁶  So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin. ⁷  They put the ones who couldn’t walk on donkeys. ⁸  They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho, ⁹  the city of the date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.

28:16 At that time King Ahaz asked the king ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  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 ¹²  Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, ¹³  for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very ¹⁴  unfaithful to the Lord. 28:20 King Tiglath-pileser ¹⁵  of Assyria came, but he gave him more trouble than support. ¹⁶  28:21 Ahaz gathered riches ¹⁷  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. ¹⁸  He reasoned, ¹⁹  “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.

28:26 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, including his accomplishments from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁰  28:27 Ahaz passed away ²¹  and was buried in the City of David; ²²  they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.

[28:11]  ¹ tn Heb “for the rage of the anger of the Lord is upon you.”

[28:12]  ² tn Heb “men from.”

[28:12]  ³ tn Heb “arose against.”

[28:13]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “for great is [the] guilt to us and rage of anger is upon Israel.”

[28:15]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “and poured oil on them.”

[28:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they led them on donkeys, with respect to everyone stumbling.”

[28:15]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[28:16]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Shephelah.”

[28:19]  ¹² tn Or “subdued.”

[28:19]  ¹³ sn That is, “of Judah.” Frequently in 2 Chronicles “Israel” is substituted for “Judah.”

[28:19]  ¹⁴ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the degree of Ahaz’s unfaithfulness.

[28:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Tilgath-pilneser,” a variant spelling of Tiglath-pileser.

[28:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he caused him distress and did not strengthen him.”

[28:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “divided up,” but some read חִלֵּץ (khillets, “despoiled”).

[28:23]  ¹⁸ 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.

[28:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “said.”

[28:26]  ²⁰ tn Heb “As for the rest of his events, and all his ways, the former and the latter, look, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.”

[28:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[28:27]  ²² sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.