17. The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and captured prisoners.
18. The Philistines had raided the foothills and the Negev in Judah. They captured and began living in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages.
19. The Lord humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel. Ahaz had spread sin throughout Judah and was unfaithful to the Lord.
20. King Tillegath Pilneser of Assyria attacked Ahaz. Instead of strengthening Ahaz, Tillegath Pilneser made trouble for him.
21. Ahaz took some of the things from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the princes, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. But that didn’t help him.
22. When he had this trouble, King Ahaz became more unfaithful to the Lord.
23. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, the gods who had defeated him. He thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram are helping them. I’ll sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” But they ruined him and all Israel.
24. Ahaz collected the utensils in God’s temple, cut them up, and closed the doors to the Lord’s temple. He made altars for himself on every corner in Jerusalem.
25. And in each city of Judah, he made places of worship to sacrifice to other gods. So he made the Lord God of his ancestors angry.
26. Everything else about him—everything from beginning to end—is written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
27. Ahaz lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem because they didn’t put him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.