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2 Kings 16

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Ahaziah the Wicked King of Israel 1:1–18
Elijah Denounces Ahaziah 1:3–16
Jehoram Succeeds Ahaziah 1:17–18
Elisha Succeeds Elijah 2:15–25
The Spirit of Elijah Rests on Elisha 2:15–18
Elisha Heals the Waters of Jericho 2:19–22
Elisha Mocked 2:23–25
Moab’s Rebellion 3:1–27
The Shunammite Woman 4:8–37
The Woman Provides for Elisha 4:8–17
Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son 4:19–37
Elisha Purifies the Poisonous Stew 4:38–41
Elisha Feeds a Hundred Men 4:42–44
Elisha and Naaman 5:1–27
Gehazi’s Greed and Leprosy 5:15–27
The Arameans Plot to Capture Elisha 6:8–23
The Famine of Samaria 6:24–33
The Prophesy Fulfilled 7:15–20
Jehoram of Judah 8:16–24
Jehoram the Evil King 8:16–19
Edom and Libnah Rebel 8:20–22
Ahaziah Succeeds Jehoram 8:23–24
Ahaziah of Judah 8:25–29
Ahaziah the Evil King 8:25–27
Ahaziah and Joram son of Ahab Fight Hazael 8:28–29
Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah 9:14–29
Jezebel’s Violent Death 9:30–37
Ahab’s Seventy Sons Killed 10:1–17
Jehu Kills the Priests of Baal 10:18–27
Jehu Repeats Jeroboam’s Sins 10:28–33
Jehoahaz Succeeds Jehu 10:34–36
Athaliah and Joash 11:1–16
The Death of Athaliah 11:13–16
Jehoiada Restores the Worship of the LORD 11:17–21
Joash Repairs the Temple 12:1–16
The Death of Joash 12:17–20
Jehoash of Israel 13:10–25
Elisha’s Death and Final Prophecy 13:14–25
The Path to Exile 14:1–17:41
Amaziah of Judah and Jehoash of Israel 14:1–22
Jeroboam II Succeeds Jehoash of Israel 14:15–16
The Death of Amaziah of Judah 14:17–20
Azariah Succeeds Amaziah of Judah 14:21–22
Jeroboam II of Israel 14:23–29
Jeroboam II the Evil King 14:23–28
Shallum of Israel 15:13–16
Menahem Kills and Succeeds Shallum 15:14–16
Menahem of Israel 15:17–22
Menahem the Evil King 15:17–18
Menahem Pays Pul King of Assyria 15:19–21
Pekahiah of Israel 15:23–26
Pekahiah the Evil King 15:23–24
Pekah Kills and Succeeds Pekahiah 15:25–26
Pekah of Israel 15:27–31
Pekah the Evil King 15:27–28
Hoshea Kills and Succeeds Pekah 15:30–31
Jotham of Judah 15:32–38
Jotham the Mostly Good King 15:32–37
Ahaz of Judah 16:1–20
The Idolatry of Ahaz 16:10–19
Hezekiah Succeeds Ahaz 16:20

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1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah.

2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God.

3 Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.

6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, drove out the men of Judah, and sent the Edomites into Elath, where they live to this day.

7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”

8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.

9 So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.

10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. On seeing the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction.

11 And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it before King Ahaz returned.

12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it.

13 He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splattered the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

14 He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the LORD) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.

15 Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”

16 So Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded.

17 King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

18 And on account of the king of Assyria, he removed the Sabbath canopy they had built in the temple and closed the royal entryway outside the house of the LORD.

19 As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

20 And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

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Dictionary

Altar

(Heb. mizbe'ah, from a word meaning "to slay"), any structure of earth (Ex. 20:24) or unwrought stone (20:25) on which sacrifices were offered. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places (Gen. 22:9; Ezek. 6:3; 2 Kings 23:12; 16:4; 23:8; Acts 14:13). The word is used in Heb. 13:10 for the sacrifice offered upon it--the sacrifice Christ offered. Paul found among the many altars erected in Athens one bearing the inscription, "To the unknown God" (Acts 17:23), or rather "to an [i.e., some] unknown God." The reason for this inscription cannot now be accurately determined. It afforded the apostle the occasion of proclaiming the gospel to the "men of Athens." The first altar we read of is that erected by Noah (Gen. 8:20). Altars were erected by Abraham (Gen. 12:7; 13:4; 22:9), by Isaac (Gen. 26:25), by Jacob (33:20; 35:1, 3), and by Moses (Ex. 17:15, "Yahweh-nissi"). In the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, two altars were erected. (1.) The altar of burnt offering (Ex. 30:28), called also the "brasen altar" (Ex. 39:39) and "the table of the Lord" (Mal. 1:7). This altar, as erected in the tabernacle, is described in Ex. 27:1-8. It was a hollow square, 5 cubits in length and in breadth, and 3 cubits in height. It was made of shittim wood, and was overlaid with plates of brass. Its corners were ornamented with "horns" (Ex. 29:12; Lev. 4:18). In Ex. 27:3 the various utensils appertaining to the altar are enumerated. They were made of brass. (Comp. 1 Sam. 2:13, 14; Lev. 16:12; Num. 16:6, 7.) In Solomon's temple the altar was of larger dimensions (2 Chr. 4:1. Comp. 1 Kings 8:22, 64; 9:25), and was made wholly of brass, covering a structure of stone or earth. This altar was renewed by Asa (2 Chr. 15:8). It was removed by Ahaz (2 Kings 16:14), and "cleansed" by Hezekiah, in the latter part of whose reign it was rebuilt. It was finally broken up and carried away by the Babylonians (Jer. 52:17). After the return from captivity it was re-erected (Ezra 3:3, 6) on the same place where it had formerly stood. (Comp. 1 Macc. 4:47.) When Antiochus Epiphanes pillaged Jerusalem the altar of burnt offering was taken away. Again the altar was erected by Herod, and remained in its place till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (70 A.D.). The fire on the altar was not permitted to go out (Lev. 6:9). In the Mosque of Omar, immediately underneath the great dome, which occupies the site of the old temple, there is a rough projection of the natural rock, of about 60 feet in its extreme length, and 50 in its greatest breadth, and in its highest part about 4 feet above the general pavement. This rock seems to have been left intact when Solomon's temple was built. It was in all probability the site of the altar of burnt offering. Underneath this rock is a cave, which may probably have been the granary of Araunah's threshing-floor (1 Chr. 21:22). (2.) The altar of incense (Ex. 30:1-10), called also "the golden altar" (39:38; Num. 4:11), stood in the holy place "before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony." On this altar sweet spices were continually burned with fire taken from the brazen altar. The morning and the evening services were commenced by the high priest offering incense on this altar. The burning of the incense was a type of prayer (Ps. 141:2; Rev. 5:8; 8:3, 4). This altar was a small movable table, made of acacia wood overlaid with gold (Ex. 37:25, 26). It was 1 cubit in length and breadth, and 2 cubits in height. In Solomon's temple the altar was similar in size, but was made of cedar-wood (1 Kings 6:20; 7:48) overlaid with gold. In Ezek. 41:22 it is called "the altar of wood." (Comp. Ex. 30:1-6.) In the temple built after the Exile the altar was restored. Antiochus Epiphanes took it away, but it was afterwards restored by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Macc. 1:23; 4:49). Among the trophies carried away by Titus on the destruction of Jerusalem the altar of incense is not found, nor is any mention made of it in Heb. 9. It was at this altar Zacharias ministered when an angel appeared to him (Luke 1:11). It is the only altar which appears in the heavenly temple (Isa. 6:6; Rev. 8:3, 4).

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