Study Desk

Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, his God, as David, his father.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover, he consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire, according to the idols of the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

And he agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians went up against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried away the inhabitants thereof to Cyrene; but Rasin he slew.

And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own sacrifice;

And king Achaz commanded Urias, the priest, saying: Upon the great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and the king’s holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libations: and all the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim, thou shalt pour out upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure.

And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Ezechias, his son, reigned in his stead.

Against him came up Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians; and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute.

And they rejected his ordinances, and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified against them: and they followed vanities, and acted vainly: and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did.

And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda.

And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he cast them away from his face:

Till the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of all his servants, the prophets: and Israel was carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.

Unto this day they follow the old manner: they fear not the Lord, neither do they keep his ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he surnamed Israel:

He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zacharias.

And he did that which was good before the Lord, according to all that David, his father, had done

And he stuck to the Lord, and departed not from his steps, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

Because they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord, their God, but transgressed his covenant: all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded, they would not hear, nor do.

Dost thou trust in Egypt a staff of a broken reed, upon which if a man lean, it will break and go into his hand, and pierce it? so is Pharao, king of Egypt, to all that trust in him.

Do not hearken to Ezechias. For thus saith the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me: and every man of you shall eat of his own vineyard, and of his own fig tree: and you shall drink water of your own cisterns,

And when king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

It may be the Lord, thy God, will hear all the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians, his master, hath sent to reproach the living God, and to reprove with words, which the Lord, thy God, hath heard: and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found.