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

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah^(A) 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^[a](B) on it. ¹³ He offered up his burnt offering^(C) and grain offering,^(D) poured out his drink offering,^(E) and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings^(F) against the altar. ¹⁴ As for the bronze altar^(G) 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^(H) 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.”^{(I) 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.^{(J) 18} He took away the Sabbath canopy^[b] 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.^(K)

¹⁶ At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings^[a] of Assyria^(A) for help.

²⁰ Tiglath-Pileser^[a](A) king of Assyria^(B) came to him, but he gave him trouble^(C) instead of help.^{(D) 21} Ahaz^(E) took some of the things from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace and from the officials and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.^(F)

²² In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful^(G) to the Lord. ²³ He offered sacrifices to the gods^(H) of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”^(I) But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.^(J)