19. The Lord was humiliating Judah on account of Israel’s King Ahaz, because he had exercised no restraint in Judah and had been utterly unfaithful to the Lord.
20. Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser came to Ahaz, but he brought trouble, not support.
21. Even though Ahaz took items from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials to buy off the king of Assyria, it was of no help.
22. It was during this troubled time that King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord
23. by sacrificing to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him."Since the gods of Aram’s kings are helping them," he said, "I’ll sacrifice to them too, so that they will help me."But they became the ruin of both him and all Israel.
24. Ahaz gathered the objects from God’s temple, cut them up, shut the doors of the Lord’s temple, and made himself altars on every corner in Jerusalem.
25. He made shrines in all the towns of Judah for burning incense to other gods. This made the Lord, the God of his ancestors, very angry.