Daily Bread

¹⁶ At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings^[a] of Assyria^(A) for help. ¹⁷ The Edomites^(B) had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners,^{(C) 18} while the Philistines^(D) had raided towns in the foothills and in the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh, Aijalon^(E) and Gederoth,^(F) as well as Soko,^(G) Timnah^(H) and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages. ¹⁹ The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel,^[b] for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful^(I) to the Lord. ²⁰ Tiglath-Pileser^[c](J) king of Assyria^(K) came to him, but he gave him trouble^(L) instead of help.^{(M) 21} Ahaz^(N) took some of the things from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace and from the officials and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.^(O)

²² In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful^(P) to the Lord. ²³ He offered sacrifices to the gods^(Q) of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”^(R) But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.^(S)

²⁴ Ahaz gathered together the furnishings^(T) from the temple of God^(U) and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors^(V) of the Lord’s temple and set up altars^(W) at every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

²⁶ The other events of his reign and all his ways, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ Ahaz rested^(X) with his ancestors and was buried^(Y) in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.