¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was pleasing and right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his father.

²But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and he also made cast images for the Baals.

³And he made offerings smoke in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and burned his sons in the fire, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh dispossessed from before the face of the children of Israel.

⁴He sacrificed and made offerings smoke at the high places, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

⁵So Yahweh his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram, and they defeated him, took captive from him a great group of captives, and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great blow.

⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all of them sons of strength, because they had forsaken Yahweh the God of their fathers.

⁷And Zikri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the son of the king, and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.

⁸And the children of Israel took captive from their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters; they also plundered them of much plunder, and brought the plunder to Samaria.

⁹And there was a prophet of Yahweh, Oded was his name, and he went out before the face of the army that was coming to Samaria, and said to them, Look, in the anger of Yahweh the God of your fathers against Judah, he gave them into your hand, and you killed them in a rage that reached up to the skies.

¹⁰And now you say to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be slaves and slave-females to you. Are there not with you, even with you, guilts to Yahweh your God?

¹¹And now, listen to me, and return the captives that you took captive from your brothers, for the burning anger of Yahweh is upon you.

¹²And men rose from the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Jehohanan, Berekiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, against those who came from the war.

¹³And they said to them, You must not bring the captives here, for guilt before Yahweh is upon us; and you are saying that you will add to our sins and to our guilt. For our guilt is great, and burning anger is upon Israel.

¹⁴So the armed ones forsook the captives and the plunder before the face of the officials and all the company.

¹⁵And the men who had been designated by name rose, and took hold of the captives, and all their naked ones they clothed from the plunder; they clothed them, shod them, fed them, gave them drink, anointed them, led them gently on donkeys, every one who stumbled, and brought them to Jericho, the city of the palm trees, beside their brothers; and they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him.

¹⁷And again the Edomites had come, and had struck Judah, and had taken captives.

¹⁸And the Philistines had made a raid on the cities of the Shephelah and the Negev of Judah, and had captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Socoh and its daughter villages, Timnah and its daughter villages, and Gimzo and its daughter villages; and they dwelled there.

¹⁹For Yahweh had humbled Judah on account of Ahaz king of Israel, because he had allowed lack of restraint in Judah and had acted very unfaithfully against Yahweh.

²⁰And Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him, and pressed hard on him, and did not strengthen him.

²¹For Ahaz plundered the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king and of the officials, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.

²²And in the time that he was pressed hard, he added to his unfaithfulness against Yahweh, he, King Ahaz.

²³And he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, and said, Since the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, I will sacrifice to them, so that they will help me. But they became to him a cause of stumbling, and to all Israel.

²⁴And Ahaz gathered the vessels of the house of God, and cut up the vessels of the house of God, and closed up the doors of the house of Yahweh, and made altars for himself at every corner in Jerusalem.

²⁵And in every single city of Judah he made high places to make offerings smoke to other gods, and he angered Yahweh, the God of his fathers.

²⁶And the rest of his words and all his ways, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the record of the kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷And Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they interred him in the city, in Jerusalem; for they did not bring him to the graves of the kings of Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.