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.^{(A) 17} But the priest Azariah went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor;^{(B) 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.”^{(C) 19} Then Uzziah was enraged. Now he had a censer in his hand to make offering, and when he became enraged with the priests a defiling disease broke out on his forehead, in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense.^{(D) 20} When the chief priest Azariah, and all the priests, looked at him, he was diseased on his forehead. They hurried him out, and he himself hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him. ²¹ King Uzziah had a defiling disease to the day of his death, and being diseased lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace of the king, governing the people of the land.^(E)

²² Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz wrote.^{(F) 23} Uzziah slept with his ancestors; they buried him near his ancestors in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He had a defiling disease.” His son Jotham succeeded him.^(G)