The wicked and unhappy reign of Achaz.

¹ Ahaz was twenty years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what is right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David did.

² Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. Moreover, he also cast statues for the Baals.

³ It is he who burned incense in the Valley of the son of Hinnom. And he purified his sons by fire, in accord with the ritual of the nations that the Lord put to death at the advent of the sons of Israel.

⁴ Also, he was sacrificing and burning incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

⁵ And so the Lord, his God, delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, who struck him and took great plunder from his kingdom. And he carried it away to Damascus. Also, he was delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, and he struck him with great affliction.

⁶ And Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed, on one day, one hundred twenty thousand, all of them men of war from Judah, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.

⁷ In the same time, Zichri, a powerful man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the son of the king, and Azrikam, the governor of his house, and also Elkanah, who was second to the king.

⁸ And the sons of Israel seized, from their brothers, two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls, and immense plunder. And they took it away to Samaria.

⁹ At that time, there was a prophet of the Lord there, named Oded. And going out to meet the army arriving in Samaria, he said to them: “Behold, the Lord, the God of your fathers, having become angry against Judah, has delivered them into your hands. But you have killed them by atrocities, so that your cruelty has reached up to heaven.

¹⁰ Moreover, you wanted to subjugate the sons of Judah and Jerusalem as your men and women servants, which is a work that should never be done. And so you sinned in this matter against the Lord your God.

¹¹ But listen to my counsel, and release the captives, whom you have brought from your brothers. For a great fury of the Lord is hanging over you.”

¹² And so, some of the leaders of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah, the son of Shallum, and Amasa, the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were arriving from the battle.

¹³ And they said to them: “You shall not lead back captives to here, lest we sin against the Lord. Why are you willing to add to our sins, and to build upon our old offenses? For indeed, the sin is great, and the furious anger of the Lord is hanging over Israel.”

¹⁴ And the warriors released the spoils and all that they had seized, in the sight of the leaders and the entire multitude.

¹⁵ And the men, whom we mentioned above, rose up and took the captives. All those who were naked, they clothed from the spoils. And when they had clothed them, and had given them shoes, and had refreshed them with food and drink, and had anointed them because of the hardship, and had cared for them, whoever was not able to walk and whoever was feeble in body, they set them upon beasts of burden, and they led them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers, and they themselves returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ In that time, king Ahaz sent to the king of the Assyrians, requesting assistance.

¹⁷ And the Edomites arrived and struck down many of Judah, and they seized great plunder.

¹⁸ Also, the Philistines spread out among the cities of the plains, and to the south of Judah. And they seized Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and also Soco, and Timnah, and Gimzo, with their villages, and they lived in them.

¹⁹ For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz, the king of Judah, since he had stripped it of help, and had shown contempt for the Lord.¹

1. 28:19For he had stripped it of help: That is, Achaz stripped the kingdom of Juda of the divine assistance by his wickedness, and by his introducing idolatry.(Challoner)

²⁰ And he led against him Tilgath-pilneser, the king of the Assyrians, who also afflicted him and laid waste to him, without resistance.

²¹ And so Ahaz, despoiling the house of the Lord, and the house of the kings and the leaders, gave gifts to the king of the Assyrians, and yet it profited him nothing.

²² Moreover, in the time of his anguish, he also added to his contempt against the Lord. King Ahaz himself, by himself,

²³ immolated victims to the gods of Damascus, those who had struck him. And he said: “The gods of the kings of Syria assist them, and so I will please them with victims, and they will help me.” But to the contrary, they had been the ruin of him and of all Israel.

²⁴ And so, Ahaz, having despoiled and broken apart all the vessels of the house of God, closed up the doors of the temple of God, and made for himself altars in all the corners of Jerusalem.

²⁵ Also, he constructed altars in all the cities of Judah, in order to burn frankincense, and so he provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to wrath.

²⁶ But the rest of his words, and all his works, the first and the last, have been written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷ And Ahaz slept with his fathers. And they buried him in the city of Jerusalem. And they did not allow him to be in the sepulchers of the kings of Israel. And his son, Hezekiah, reigned in his place.