2 Kings 16: Ahaz’s Alliance with Assyria – Clear & Engaging Audio Bible Reading | Unholy Worship, Enemy Invasion, and God’s Judgment

Listen to this clear and engaging audio recording of 2 Kings 16 and explore the unholy worship of King Ahaz, his alliance with Assyria against Israel, and the enemy invasion that ensued. Discover how God judged Ahaz for his disobedience and how this chapter lays the foundation for future events. Perfect for Bible study, reflection, or meditation, immerse yourself in this powerful chapter today.

2 KINGS 16 (NIV)

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

2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and
he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do
what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God.

3 He followed the ways of the
kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the
detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the
Israelites.

4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on
the hilltops and under every spreading tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up
to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower
him.

6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving
out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there
to this day.

7 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your
servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram
and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”

8 And Ahaz took the silver
and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal
palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.

9 The king of Assyria
complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants
to Kir and put Rezin to death.

10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He
saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar,
with detailed plans for its construction.

11 So Uriah the priest built an
altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus
and finished it before King Ahaz returned.

12 When the king came back from
Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it.

13
He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink
offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the
altar.

14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it
from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the
Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.

15 King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new
altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the
king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all
the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering.
Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”

16 And Uriah the priest
did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable
stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it
on a stone base.

18 He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the
temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in
deference to the king of Assyria.

19 As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not
written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

20 Ahaz rested with
his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his
son succeeded him as king.