2 Kings Chapter 16
Showing all 20 verses for 2 Kings Chapter 16.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. "
"In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah."
Sometimes you inherit a crisis you didn't create, right at the start of your own responsibility. What matters is how you respond to it, not that you didn't choose to face it.
"Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. "
"Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the LORD's eyes, his God, unlike his ancestor David."
A good family history or upbringing doesn't automatically carry forward - every generation, every person, has to make their own choice about which way to go. Don't assume good roots guarantee good fruit without your own active choosing.
"But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. "
"Instead he followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, copying the disgusting practices of the nations the LORD had driven out ahead of the Israelites."
I have never asked for a child's life, a parent's grief, or anyone's suffering as the price of devotion - that idea is the exact opposite of who I am. Wherever fear or tradition convinces someone that love requires destroying what's most precious, I say no; I came so that people could have life, and have it abundantly, not so that anything - especially a child - would be sacrificed to appease anything at all.
"And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. "
"He sacrificed and burned incense at the high places, on the hills, and under every spreading tree."
Small compromises, unaddressed, tend to spread until they touch nearly everything. Notice where you've let something small in, because left unchecked it rarely stays small or contained.
"Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. "
"Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to make war on Jerusalem; they besieged Ahaz but couldn't overpower him."
Even in the middle of a crisis you may have partly brought on yourself, help and reassurance can still be available if you're willing to look for it rather than immediately reaching for your own solutions out of fear.
"At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and there unto this day. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the Judeans out of it; the Syrians came to Elath and have lived there ever since."
What was rebuilt with care and effort can be lost again if the wider direction of a life turns away from what sustained it in the first place. Don't take earlier gains for granted as permanent.
"So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. "
"So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, 'I am your servant and your son - come up and rescue me from the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.'"
Fear can push you towards 'solutions' that feel safe in the moment but actually hand real power over your future to someone or something you'll struggle to ever be free of again. Before you bind yourself to an easy rescuer, ask what that rescue is really going to cost you down the road.
"And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. "
"Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the LORD's Temple and in the royal palace treasury and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria."
Notice what you're willing to give away - even things meant to be sacred and set apart - just to feel safe quickly. Real security isn't purchased that way, and what's spent in panic is rarely spent wisely.
"And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. "
"The king of Assyria listened to him: he marched against Damascus, captured it, deported its people to Kir, and killed Rezin."
A strategy that 'works' in the short term isn't proof it was wise - sometimes the true cost of a decision only becomes clear much further down the road. Judge choices by where they lead, not only by whether the immediate problem goes away.
"And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. "
"King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he saw an altar there. He sent its design and a detailed pattern of its construction to Uriah the priest."
What you submit yourself to politically, financially, or socially has a way of quietly reshaping what you actually worship and value, often without you fully realising it's happening. Guard what's most sacred to you especially when you're impressed by the power or success of whoever you're currently depending on.
"And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus. "
"Uriah the priest built the altar exactly as king Ahaz had specified from Damascus; Uriah finished it before the king returned from Damascus."
Going along with what's asked of you by someone in power isn't automatically the right or safe choice, especially when your role exists specifically to hold a line others are pressuring you to cross. I ask for courage from those entrusted with guarding what matters, not just compliance.
"And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. "
"When the king came back from Damascus, he saw the altar, approached it, and offered sacrifices on it."
Enthusiasm for something new and impressive can carry you past boundaries that exist for good reason. Just because you have the power or opportunity to cross a line doesn't mean you should.
"And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar. "
"He burned his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar."
Getting all the outward motions right doesn't make something genuinely faithful if the foundation underneath has already shifted somewhere else. I look past the correct performance to what's actually being honoured underneath it.
"And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar. "
"He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD, from its place in front of the Temple - between the new altar and the Temple building - and moved it to the north side of the new altar."
It's possible to keep the outward form of something good technically intact while quietly moving it out of the centre of your life. Notice what's been sidelined even while it's still technically there - a relationship, a value, a practice - just no longer where it used to be.
"And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by. "
"King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest: 'On the great new altar, burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offering, grain offering, and drink offerings of all the people; sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But the bronze altar will be for me to seek guidance by.'"
When something good gets pushed to the margins 'just for now' or 'just for me,' it rarely stays that way by accident - watch for the moment a genuine priority quietly becomes optional while a substitute becomes the new default for everyone.
"Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. "
"Uriah the priest did exactly as king Ahaz had commanded."
Silence and compliance in the face of something you know is wrong is its own kind of choice, even when it feels safer than speaking up. I notice not only what people do wrong themselves, but what those with the standing to object choose not to say.
"And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. "
"King Ahaz cut off the borders of the moveable stands, removed the wash-basins from them, took the great bronze basin ('the sea') down from the bronze oxen that supported it, and set it on a stone base instead."
Debts taken on out of fear or convenience have a way of eventually demanding payment from the very things you value most, piece by piece, until you notice how much has quietly been taken apart.
"And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria. "
"He also removed the covered structure used on the Sabbath that had been built in the Temple, and the outer entrance for the king, turning these away from the LORD's Temple because of the king of Assyria."
When a fear or a relationship you've become dependent on starts dictating changes even to the things that matter most to you, that's worth stopping to examine closely. What - or who - is actually setting the terms for your life right now?
"Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? "
"As for the rest of Ahaz's deeds - aren't they written in the official record of the kings of Judah?"
Even a life marked by real failure and compromise is still recorded honestly, not erased. I don't need the story softened to still care about the person who lived it - or about what comes next for them.
"And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. "
"Ahaz died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah became king in his place."
However far a season of your life - or a family, or a community - has drifted, that isn't the end of the story for what comes next. A new beginning, a genuine turn back towards what's good, is always possible, even right after the worst of it.