And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.
Parallel translations
- WEB Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus.
- BSB And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it by the time King Ahaz had returned.
- NKJV Then Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus.
- NASB So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to everything that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, in that way Urijah the priest made it, before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.
- NLT Uriah followed the king’s instructions and built an altar just like it, and it was ready before the king returned from Damascus.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Urijah the priest builds the altar exactly as Ahaz directed, before the king returns. The priesthood complies with the king's corruption.
Overview
Rather than resisting, Urijah dutifully constructs the foreign-style altar according to Ahaz's specifications. His compliance shows how royal apostasy could draw even the priesthood into compromise. This failure of priestly faithfulness highlights the need for a true and faithful High Priest who would never betray God's pattern of worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 8:2And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
- Gal 1:10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
- Dan 3:7Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
- 2 Chr 26:17–18And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:
- Mal 2:7–9For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
- Jer 23:11For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
- 1 Kgs 21:11–13And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.
- Ezek 22:26Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
- Hos 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 16:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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