Uzziah rules Judah as king

26 All the people of Judah chose Uzziah to be their king instead of his father, King Amaziah. Uzziah was 16 years old.^{[a] 2} He built Elath again after King Amaziah had died. He made it a part of Judah again.

³ Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. And he ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother's name was Jecoliah. She came from Jerusalem. ⁴ Uzziah did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He served God faithfully all the time that Zechariah was alive. Zechariah taught him to respect and obey God. As long as Uzziah served the Lord faithfully, God gave him success.

God helps Uzziah

⁶ Uzziah took his army to attack the Philistines. He destroyed the walls of their cities, Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he made the towns near Ashdod strong, as well as other towns where the Philistines lived. ⁷ God helped him to win battles against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-Baal, and against the Meunites. ⁸ The people from Ammon paid taxes to Uzziah. He became very powerful. So everyone as far as the border of Egypt knew that he was a great king.

⁹ Uzziah built strong towers on Jerusalem's walls to make the city safe. He built them at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the place where the wall turned. ¹⁰ He also built towers in the desert. He dug holes in the ground to contain water. He needed water for his animals on the low hills and in the valleys, because he had many of them. He also enjoyed growing crops. He had men who worked in the fields and in the vineyards. These were on the hills and in places where crops would grow well.

Uzziah's army

¹¹ Uzziah had an army of soldiers who were ready to fight battles. The king's secretary, Jeiel, and his officer, Maaseiah, put the soldiers into groups. They counted the soldiers in each group. Hananiah was the army captain who had authority over them. ¹² There were 2,600 family leaders who led the groups of soldiers. ¹³ Together they led 307,500 soldiers who knew how to fight well. They were a powerful army that could keep the king safe against his enemies. ¹⁴ Uzziah gave shields, spears, helmets and armour to the whole army. He also gave them bows and arrows, and stones to put in their slings.

¹⁵ Men in Jerusalem who had special skills built machines that could shoot arrows and big stones. Uzziah put them on the towers and at the corners of the walls around Jerusalem. God helped him in many ways, so that he became very famous and powerful.

Uzziah becomes proud and God punishes him

¹⁶ Uzziah was so powerful that he became proud. That caused him to lose his power. He began to turn away from the Lord his God. He went into the Lord's temple to burn incense on the special altar there. ¹⁷ Azariah and 80 other brave priests of the Lord went into the temple after him. ¹⁸ They warned King Uzziah. They said to him, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Lord. Only the priests, Aaron's descendants, may do that. They are the people that God has chosen to offer incense to him. So you must leave this Holy Place because you have done something that is wrong. As a result, the Lord God will not give you any honour.’

¹⁹ Then Uzziah became angry. In his hand, he was holding a pot with hot coals and incense in it. He was standing in the Lord's temple, near the special altar for incense. The priests were there with him. When he started to shout at the priests, a bad disease suddenly appeared on the skin of his face. ²⁰ Azariah, the leader of the priests, and all the other priests turned towards Uzziah. They saw the terrible disease on the skin at the front of his head. So they quickly took him out of the temple. Uzziah himself was also in a hurry to leave, because the Lord had punished him with this disease.^[b]

King Uzziah dies

²¹ King Uzziah had the terrible disease on his skin until the day that he died. He lived in his own house, away from other people. He could not go into the Lord's temple because of his disease. His son Jotham had authority in the palace and he ruled the people of Judah.

²² All the other things that happened while Uzziah was king are written in a book. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz's son, wrote down those things. ²³ Uzziah died and they buried him near his ancestors. Because he had the terrible disease on his skin, they did not bury him beside the other kings that had died. Instead they buried him in a field for graves that belonged to the kings of Judah.

His son Jotham became king after him.