2 Chronicles 28:23

the gods of Damascus In 2 Kin. the statement is that Ahaz made a copy of an altar which he saw at Damascus and sacrificed upon it. The altar at Damascus was probably the one used by Tiglath-pileser and therefore an Assyrian rather than a Damascene altar. The use of such an altar was an act of apostasy from Jehovah for a foreign altar implied a foreign god; cp. 2 Kings 5:17.

the gods of the kings of Syria help them At this time the Syrians of Damascus had been conquered by the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16:9), so that the statement needs to be corrected by reading "kings of Assyria(Asshur)" for "kings of Syria(Aram)." The confusion is due to some writer or scribe, who lived at a time when one Empire extended from Babylon to the Mediterranean and included both Syria and Assyria. Such was the case under the Persians and under the successors of Alexander down to the time of the Maccabees. The Romans similarly failed at first to distinguish the ancient empire east of the Euphrates, i.e. Assyria (Asshur) from the peoples west of the Euphrates, the Aramaeans, whom they mistakenly called "Syrians" (a shortened form of "Assyrians"), whose chief cities were Antioch, Hamath, and Damascus. This use of "Syrian" has passed over into English, but the more accurate designation is "Aramaean"; cp. Genesis 28:5 (R.V.).

help them The R.V. "helped them" is wrong.