2 Kings 16 · Verse 2

2 Kings 16:2

Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father.

2 Kings 16:2, King James Version

2 Kings 16:2 in other translations

BSB	Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God.
WEB	Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in the LORD his God’s eyes, like David his father.
ASV	Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah his God, like David his father.
YLT	A son of twenty years is Ahaz in his reigning, and sixteen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he hath not done that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah his God, like David his father,
DARBY	Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not what was right in the sight of Jehovah his God, like David his father,
BBE	Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king; he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as David his father did.
Webster	Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.

What does 2 Kings 16:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 16:1-4

2Ki 16:1-16. Ahaz' Wicked Reign over Judah. 1-4. Ahaz ... did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord--[See on 2Ch 28:1.] The character of this king's reign, the voluptuousness and religious degeneracy of all classes of the people, are graphically portrayed in the writings of Isaiah, who prophesied at that period. The great increase of worldly wealth and luxury in the reigns of Azariah and Jotham had…

Read the full comment on 2 Kings 16:1-4 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Twenty years old was Ahaz - Here is another considerable difficulty in the chronology. Ahaz was but twenty years old when he began to reign, and he died after he had reigned sixteen years; consequently his whole age amounted only to thirty-six years. But Hezekiah his son was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and if this were so, then Ahaz must have been the father of Hezekiah when he was but eleven years of age! Some think that the twenty years mentioned here respect the beginning of the reign of Jotham, father of Ahaz; so that the passage should be thus translated: Ahaz was twenty years of age when his father began to reign; and consequently he was fifty-two years old when he died, seeing Jotham reigned sixteen years: and therefore Hezekiah was born when his father was twenty-seven years of age. This however is a violent solution, and worthy of little credit. It is better to return to the text as it stands, and allow that Ahaz might be only eleven or twelve years old when he had Hezekiah: this is not at all impossible; as we know that the youth of both sexes in the eastern countries are marriageable at ten or twelve years of age, and are frequently betrothed when they are but nine. I know a woman, an East Indian, who had the second of her two first children when she was only fourteen years of age, and must have had the first when between eleven and twelve. I hold it therefore quite a possible case that Ahaz might have had a son born to him when he was but eleven or twelve years old.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 2 Kings 16:1-9

Few and evil were the days of Ahaz. Those whose hearts condemn them, will go any where in a day of distress, rather than to God. The sin was its own punishment. It is common for those who bring themselves into straits by one sin, to try to help themselves out by another.

Read the full comment on 2 Kings 16:1-9 →

2 Kings 16:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

בֶּן\־ben-[was] a son ofH1121

עֶשְׂרִ֤ים'es.RimtwentyH6242

שָׁנָה֙sha.Nahyear[s]H8141

אָחָ֣ז'a.ChazAhazH271

בְּמָלְכ֔וֹbe.ma.le.Khowhen became king heH4427

וְשֵׁשׁ\־ve.shesh-and six-H8337

עֶשְׂרֵ֣ה'es.RehteenH6240

שָׁנָ֔הsha.Nahyear[s]H8141

מָלַ֖ךְma.Lakhhe reignedH4427

בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑םbi.ru.sha.Limin JerusalemH3389

וְלֹא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808

עָשָׂ֣ה'a.Sahhe didH6213

הַיָּשָׁ֗רhai.ya.Sharthe rightH3477

בְּעֵינֵ֛יbe.'ei.Neiin [the] eyes ofH5869

יְהוָ֥הYah.wehYahwehH3068

אֱלֹהָ֖יו'e.lo.HavGod hisH430

כְּדָוִ֥דke.da.Vidlike DavidH1732

אָבִֽיו\׃'a.Vivancestor hisH1

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Kings 16:2

2 Chronicles 28:1-4
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
2 Kings 18:3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.
1 Kings 11:4-8
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. …
2 Kings 22:2
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
2 Chronicles 17:3
And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;
1 Kings 9:4
And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:
2 Chronicles 34:2-3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
2 Chronicles 29:2
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
2 Kings 15:34
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
2 Kings 15:3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;
1 Kings 15:3
And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.
2 Kings 14:3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

did not.
14:3; 15:3,34; 18:3; 22:2; 1Ki 3:14; 9:4; 11:4-8; 15:3; 2Ch 17:3
2Ch 29:2; 34:2,3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

2 Kings 16:1
In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.
2 Kings 16:2
Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father.
2 Kings 16:3
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.

Read all of 2 Kings 16

2 Kings 16:2 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Cuando comenzó á reinar Achâz, era de veinte años, y reinó en Jerusalem dieciséis años: y no hizo lo recto en ojos de Jehová su Dios, como David su padre;
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Achaz était âgé de 20 ans lorsqu’il commença de régner; et il régna 16 ans à Jérusalem. Et il ne fit pas ce qui est droit aux yeux de l’ Éternel, son Dieu, comme avait fait David, son père;
German Elberfelder 1871	Zwanzig Jahre war Ahas alt, als er König wurde, und er regierte sechzehn Jahre zu Jerusalem. Und er tat nicht, was recht war in den Augen Jehovas, seines Gottes, wie sein Vater David;
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Viginti annorum erat Achaz cum regnare cœpisset, et sedecim annis regnavit in Jerusalem. Non fecit quod erat placitum in conspectu Domini Dei sui sicut David pater ejus,