¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he started to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. But he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord like David his father. ²And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and he also made castings to the Baalim. ³And he burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and he set his sons on fire like the abominations of the Gentiles whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ⁴And he sacrificed and burned incense on the idolatrous raised sites and on the hills and under every luxuriant tree. ⁵And the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aramaea, and they struck him and took a large body of his men captive, and they brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great blow. ⁶And Pekah the son of Remaliah killed one hundred and twenty thousand people in Judah in one day – all valiant men – because of them forsaking the Lord God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a warrior of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the superintendent of the house, and Elkanah the king's deputy. ⁸And the sons of Israel took from their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons and daughters captive, and they also stripped much spoil from them, and they brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹But there was a prophet of the Lord there whose name was Oded, and he went out before the army which had come back to Samaria, and he said to them, “You see how in the fury of the Lord God of your fathers with Judah, he delivered them into your hand, and you have killed them in a rage, and it has reached heaven. ¹⁰And now as for the sons of Judah and Jerusalem, you say that you will subjugate them as slaves and maidservants for yourselves. Is it not precisely the case that you are with guilt towards the Lord your God? ¹¹So now, hear me, and rescind the captivity with which you have made captives of your brothers, for the furious anger of the Lord is on you.” ¹²Then some men from the heads of the sons of Ephraim arose – Azariah the son of Jehohanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Hezekiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai – against those coming back from the war. ¹³And they said to them, “You shall not bring the body of captives here, for what you are propounding would entail a guilty verdict from the Lord against us, in adding to our sins and to our guilt, for our guilt is great, and there is furious anger on Israel.” ¹⁴At this the army relinquished possession of the body of captives and the spoil in the presence of the officials and the whole convocation. ¹⁵And those men who were specified by name arose and refreshed the body of captives, and they clothed all the naked among them from the spoil, and they clothed them and shod them, and they fed them and gave them drink, and they anointed them and brought everyone who was flagging on donkeys, and they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palm Trees, in company with their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria. ¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent a request to the kings of Assyria to help him. ¹⁷And the Edomites came again and attacked Judah and took captives. ¹⁸And the Philistines raided the cities of the lowlands and the south of Judah, and they captured Beth-Shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth and Sochoh and its satellite villages, and Timnah and its satellite villages, and Gimzo and its satellite villages, and they lived there. ¹⁹For the Lord humbled Judah on account of Ahaz king of Israel, because he had caused disorder in Judah and had acted thoroughly perversely against the Lord. ²⁰And Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and Ahaz was in distress, but Tilgath-Pilneser did not strengthen him. ²¹For Ahaz had raided the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the officials, and he had given the proceeds to the king of Assyria, but he wasn't any help to him. ²²Yet at the time he was in straits, he acted perversely towards the Lord again – he being King Ahaz. ²³And he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which were beleaguering him, and he said, “Since the gods of the kings of Aramaea help them, I will sacrifice to them, and they will help me.” But they were the cause of him stumbling, and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz collected the equipment of the house of God and cut up the equipment of the house of God, and he shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made altars for himself in every corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵And in every single city of Judah he made idolatrous raised sites on which to burn incense to other gods, and he provoked the Lord God of his fathers to anger. ²⁶And the rest of his exploits and all his ways – the first and the last – they are to be seen written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷And Ahaz lay with his fathers, and they buried him in the city in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.