³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear^[a] of God.^(A) As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.^(B)

¹⁶ But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride^(A) led to his downfall.^(B) He was unfaithful^(C) to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense^(D) on the altar of incense. ¹⁷ Azariah^(E) the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. ¹⁸ They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests,^(F) the descendants^(G) of Aaron,^(H) who have been consecrated to burn incense.^(I) Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

¹⁹ Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy^[a](J) broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

²¹ King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house^[b](K)—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.