9. But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He met the Israelite army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “The Lord is the God your ancestors obeyed. He let you defeat Judah because he was angry with those people. But God has seen the cruel way you killed them.
10. Now you plan to make the people of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But you also have sinned against the Lord your God.
11. Now listen to me. Send back your brothers and sisters whom you captured. Do this because the Lord is very angry with you.”
12. Then some of the leaders in Israel met the Israelite soldiers coming home from war. These leaders were Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai.
13. They warned the soldiers, “Don’t bring the prisoners from Judah here. If you do, we will be guilty of sin. That will make our sin and guilt even worse. And our guilt is already so much that the Lord is angry with Israel.”
14. So the soldiers left the prisoners and valuable things in front of the officers and people there.
15. The leaders who were named took the prisoners. These four men got the clothes that the Israelite army had taken. And they gave them to these people who were naked. They gave the prisoners clothes, sandals, food, drink and medicine. They put the weak prisoners on donkeys. Then they took them back to their families in Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned home to Samaria.
16-17. At that same time the Edomites came again. They attacked Judah and carried away prisoners. So King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help.
18. The Philistines also robbed the towns in the western mountain slopes and in southern Judah. They captured the towns of Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah and Gimzo. They also captured the villages around them. Then the Philistines lived in those towns.
19. The Lord brought trouble on Judah because of Ahaz their king. Ahaz had caused the people of Judah to sin. And he had been unfaithful to the Lord.
20. Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz. But he gave Ahaz trouble instead of help.
21. Ahaz took some valuable things from the Temple of the Lord. He also took some from the king’s palace and from the princes. Ahaz gave them to the king of Assyria, but it did not help.
22. In Ahaz’s troubles he was even more unfaithful to the Lord.
23. He offered sacrifices to the gods the people of Damascus worshiped. These people had defeated him. So he thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them. If I offer sacrifices to them, they will help me also.” But this brought ruin to Ahaz and all Israel.