2 Chronicles 26:1-18

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Reign of Uzziah

26 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king to succeed his father Amaziah.^{(A) 2} He rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his ancestors. ³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear^[a] of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.^(B)

⁶ He went out and made war against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.^{(C) 7} God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites.^{(D) 8} The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.^{(E) 9} Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle and fortified them.^{(F) 10} He built towers in the wilderness and dug out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. ¹¹ Moreover, Uzziah had an army of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by the secretary Jeiel and the officer Maaseiah, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. ¹² The whole number of the heads of ancestral houses of mighty warriors was two thousand six hundred. ¹³ Under their command was an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who could make war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.^{(G) 14} Uzziah provided for all the army the shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he set up machines, invented by skilled workers, on the towers and the corners for shooting arrows and large stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.

Pride and Apostasy

¹⁶ But when he had become strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For he acted unfaithfully toward the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to make offering on the altar of incense.^{(H) 17} But the priest Azariah went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor;^{(I) 18} they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to make offering to the Lord, but for the priests the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to make offering. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.”^(J)