Uzziah, King of Judah^(A)

26 And all the people of Judah took Uzziah^[a] and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah when he was sixteen years old. ² He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after Amaziah the king slept with his fathers.

³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he was king in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. The name of his mother was Jekoliah from Jerusalem. ⁴ And he did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord as everything his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ And he sought after God in the days of Zechariah, the one who instructed him in the fear of the Lord. And in the days that he sought after the Lord, God caused him to succeed.

⁶ He went out to make war with the Philistines, and he broke through the walls at Gath and Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he built cities in Ashdod and among the Philistines. ⁷ And God brought him aid against the Philistines and Arabians, those living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. ⁸ And the Ammonites gave a gift to Uzziah, and his name spread even to the border of Egypt because he became quite powerful.

⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress; and he fortified them. ¹⁰ And he built towers in the wilderness, and he dug out many cisterns because he had a large amount of livestock, both in the lowland Shephelah and in the plain. He also had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and fertile orchards, for he loved agriculture.

¹¹ And Uzziah had an army prepared for battle, those who went out for war as companies in the number of their divisions by the appointment of Jeiel the scribe, and Maaseiah the officer, and Hananiah a commander of the king. ¹² The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. ¹³ And under their hand was a mighty army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred who were able to go to battle as a strong army and to help the king against his enemies. ¹⁴ And Uzziah prepared for the entire army shields, long spears, helmets, scale armor, bows, and slings for stones. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he made war machines by skilled men to be placed on towers and corners to shoot arrows and large stones. And his name went out for a great distance. He received great help until he was even more powerful.

Uzziah’s Punishment for Pride

¹⁶ And as he grew strong, his heart grew more proud, leading to his destruction. Then he acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God, for he entered the temple main hall of the Lord to burn incense on the altar. ¹⁷ But Azariah the priest entered in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—men of valor. ¹⁸ And they stood against King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord for it is for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave from the sanctuary because you have been unfaithful, and there will be no honor for you from the Lord God.”

¹⁹ Then Uzziah was enraged, and in his hand was a censer for incense. And when he became angry with the priests, leprosy appeared on his forehead in front of the priests in the house of the Lord, near the altar of incense. ²⁰ Then Azariah the head priest and all the priests turned to him, and he had leprosy on his forehead; and they hastened to remove him from there, and he also hurried to leave because the Lord had struck him.

²¹ So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day of his death. He dwelt in a separate house with his unclean disease because he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the house of the king, and he governed the people of the land.

²² Now the remainder of the acts of Uzziah, from beginning to end, Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz, has written them. ²³ So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field belonging to the kings because they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son ruled in his place.