BOOK 12 OF 66 · HISTORY · KING JAMES BIBLE

2 Kings 16

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Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

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2 Kings 16 Overview

Ahaz becomes king of Judah and does not follow David’s example. He practices idolatry, including making his son pass through the fire. When Syria and Israel attack, Ahaz sends temple and palace wealth to Tiglath-pileser and declares himself Assyria’s servant. Assyria captures Damascus. Ahaz visits there, admires a pagan altar, sends its pattern to Urijah the priest, and installs a copy in Jerusalem, rearranging temple worship and making further changes ‘for the king of Assyria.’

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Before you read 2 Kings 16

Coming from

Chapter 15 showed Assyria taking northern territory while Judah remained under Jotham.

In this chapter

Ahaz responds to military fear by trusting Assyria and importing foreign worship design into the LORD’s temple.

Leads into

Chapter 17 records Samaria’s fall and explains the northern kingdom’s exile.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The Syria-Israel threat is the historical setting of Isaiah 7. Ahaz chooses Assyrian protection rather than trusting God’s word. The Damascus altar is not merely decorative influence; Ahaz gives it priority and moves the brazen altar, showing political subservience spilling into worship.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Fear can drive rulers into alliances that demand costly compromise.

Truth 2

Assyria provides short-term relief while increasing Judah’s dependence.

Truth 3

Political subservience reshapes temple worship.

Truth 4

The temple’s presence does not keep a corrupt king from misusing it.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Isaiah 7 records Isaiah confronting Ahaz in this crisis.

Connection 2

Second Chronicles 28 adds detail about Ahaz’s defeats and idolatry.

Connection 3

Exodus and Leviticus regulate Israel’s altar and worship, highlighting Ahaz’s innovation.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not treat Ahaz’s child sacrifice as acceptable worship; it is listed among abominations.

Keep this clear 2

Short-term relief does not prove the Assyrian alliance was wise.

Keep this clear 3

The altar problem is not cultural art in itself but altering revealed worship under pagan and imperial influence.

Read 2 Kings 16 watching for…

The comparison with David.

The extreme idolatry attributed to Ahaz.

What he sends Assyria and how he describes himself.

What he copies from Damascus.

How the brazen altar is displaced.

The signs of Assyrian influence.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-4Ahaz reigns wickedly in Judah and practices idolatry 5-9Syria and Israel attack Jerusalem, and Ahaz seeks help from Assyria 10-18Ahaz copies an altar from Damascus and changes temple arrangements 19-20Ahaz dies, and Hezekiah reigns

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

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.

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.

And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

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.

At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.

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.

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.

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 inquire by.

Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.

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.

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.

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?

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.