Verse Lens · Context pointer
2 Kings 16:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Ahaz receives a severe royal evaluation.”
Read It With
- 2 Kings 16:1–4
Read 2 Kings 16:1 with 16:1–4. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Ahaz rejects the Davidic model, adopts surrounding practices, passes his son through fire, and sacrifices at high places.
Why It Needs Context
2 Kings 16:1 depends on 16:1–4; isolating “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah…” would detach a supporting action, quotation, name, number, object, or transition from “Ahaz receives a severe royal evaluation.”
Read 2 Kings 16:1–4 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 16:1–4 forms one scene or regnal notice: Ahaz rejects the Davidic model, adopts surrounding practices, passes his son through fire, and sacrifices at high places.
Verse 1. 1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.
Verse 2. 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.
Verse 3. 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.
Verse 4. 4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 2 Kings 16:1–4 — Ahaz receives a severe royal evaluationSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 16:1–4, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 16:1–4
Open source ↗