⁷ even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

⁵ Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed^[a] and he himself^[b] will be saved on the day the Lord^[c] returns.

²⁰ But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

³ So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides,^[a] and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.”

⁵⁵ But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live.

²⁵ But Hezekiah did not respond appropriately to the kindness shown him, and he became proud. So the Lord’s anger came against him and against Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ Then Hezekiah humbled himself and repented of his pride, as did the people of Jerusalem. So the Lord’s anger did not fall on them during Hezekiah’s lifetime.

⁶ A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall.^[a]

Uzziah’s Sin and Punishment

¹⁶ But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.

¹³ Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.

⁷ So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.