2 Chronicles 28:16-27

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. 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. ¹¹  28:27 Ahaz passed away ¹²  and was buried in the City of David; ¹³  they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.

[28:16]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “Shephelah.”

[28:19]  ³ tn Or “subdued.”

[28:19]  ⁴ sn That is, “of Judah.” Frequently in 2 Chronicles “Israel” is substituted for “Judah.”

[28:19]  ⁵ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the degree of Ahaz’s unfaithfulness.

[28:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “Tilgath-pilneser,” a variant spelling of Tiglath-pileser.

[28:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he caused him distress and did not strengthen him.”

[28:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “divided up,” but some read חִלֵּץ (khillets, “despoiled”).

[28:23]  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.

[28:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said.”

[28:26]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[28:27]  ¹³ sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.