Chronological

Azariah becomes the king of Judah

15 Amaziah's son Azariah became king of Judah when Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 27 years.^{[a] 2} Azariah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother's name was Jecoliah. She came from Jerusalem. ³ Azariah did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ But he did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁵ The Lord caused the king to have a bad disease in his skin.^[b] He had the disease until the day that he died. He lived in a house away from other people. His son Jotham had authority in the palace and he ruled the people of Judah.

⁶ The other things that happened while Azariah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Azariah did. ⁷ Azariah died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham became king after him.

Zechariah becomes the king of Israel

⁸ Jeroboam's son Zechariah became king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 38 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for six months. ⁹ Zechariah did things that the Lord said were evil, as his ancestors had done. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

¹⁰ Jabesh's son Shallum made a plan to kill Zechariah. Shallum murdered Zechariah at Ibleam and he became king himself. ¹¹ The other things that happened while Zechariah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. ¹² The Lord had given this promise to Jehu: ‘Your descendants will be kings of Israel for four generations.’ That is what happened.^[c]

Shallum becomes the king of Israel

¹³ Jabesh's son Shallum became the king of Israel when Uzziah had been king of Judah for 39 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for one month. ¹⁴ Then Gadi's son Menahem went from Tirzah up to Samaria. He attacked King Shallum and he killed him. Menahem became king of Israel instead.

¹⁵ The other things that happened while Shallum was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the plan that he made to kill King Zechariah. ¹⁶ At that time, when Menahem came from Tirzah, he attacked the city of Tiphsah. The people who lived there refused to let him go into their city. So he killed them all. He even cut open the pregnant women.

Menahem becomes the king of Israel

¹⁷ Gadi's son Menahem became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 39 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for ten years. ¹⁸ Menahem did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins. ¹⁹ Then Pul, the king of Assyria, attacked the land of Israel.^[d] Menahem paid him 34 tons of silver to help him to rule Israel with greater power. ²⁰ Menahem made all the rich people in Israel pay taxes to him. Every rich man had to pay 50 silver coins. Menahem gave that money to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria went away. He did not stay any longer in Israel.

²¹ The other things that happened while Menahem was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Menahem did. ²² Menahem died and his son, Pekahiah, became king after him.

Pekahiah becomes the king of Israel

²³ Menahem's son Pekahiah became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 50 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for two years. ²⁴ Pekahiah did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁵ One of Pekahiah's officers was Remaliah's son, Pekah. Pekah made a plan to kill Pekahiah. He took 50 men from Gilead with him, and he killed King Pekahiah. He also killed Argob and Arieh. He killed them all in a strong room in the king's palace in Samaria. Pekah then became king instead of Pekahiah. ²⁶ The other things that happened while Pekahiah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Pekahiah did.

Pekah becomes the king of Israel

²⁷ Remaliah's son Pekah became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 52 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for 20 years. ²⁸ Pekah did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁹ While Pekah was the king of Israel, the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser, attacked towns in Israel. He took these places for himself: Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee and all of Naphtali's land. He took the people that lived in those places as prisoners to Assyria.

³⁰ Then Elah's son Hoshea made a plan to kill Remaliah's son, Pekah. Hoshea murdered Pekah and he became king instead. That happened when Uzziah's son Jotham had been king of Judah for 20 years. ³¹ The other things that happened while Pekah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Pekah did.

Jotham becomes the king of Judah

³² Uzziah's son Jotham became the king of Judah when Remaliah's son Pekah had been king of Israel for two years. ³³ Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah as king in Jerusalem for 16 years. His mother's name was Jerusha. She was Zadok's daughter. ³⁴ Jotham did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ But he did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars. Jotham built the Higher Gate of the Lord's temple.

³⁶ The other things that happened while Jotham was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Jotham did. ³⁷ While Jotham was king, the Lord began to send King Rezin of Syria and Remaliah's son Pekah to attack Judah. ³⁸ Jotham died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David, who was his ancestor. His son Ahaz became king after him.

Uzziah rules Judah as king

26 All the people of Judah chose Uzziah to be their king instead of his father, King Amaziah. Uzziah was 16 years old.^{[a] 2} He built Elath again after King Amaziah had died. He made it a part of Judah again.

³ Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. And he ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother's name was Jecoliah. She came from Jerusalem. ⁴ Uzziah did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He served God faithfully all the time that Zechariah was alive. Zechariah taught him to respect and obey God. As long as Uzziah served the Lord faithfully, God gave him success.

God helps Uzziah

⁶ Uzziah took his army to attack the Philistines. He destroyed the walls of their cities, Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he made the towns near Ashdod strong, as well as other towns where the Philistines lived. ⁷ God helped him to win battles against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-Baal, and against the Meunites. ⁸ The people from Ammon paid taxes to Uzziah. He became very powerful. So everyone as far as the border of Egypt knew that he was a great king.

⁹ Uzziah built strong towers on Jerusalem's walls to make the city safe. He built them at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the place where the wall turned. ¹⁰ He also built towers in the desert. He dug holes in the ground to contain water. He needed water for his animals on the low hills and in the valleys, because he had many of them. He also enjoyed growing crops. He had men who worked in the fields and in the vineyards. These were on the hills and in places where crops would grow well.

Uzziah's army

¹¹ Uzziah had an army of soldiers who were ready to fight battles. The king's secretary, Jeiel, and his officer, Maaseiah, put the soldiers into groups. They counted the soldiers in each group. Hananiah was the army captain who had authority over them. ¹² There were 2,600 family leaders who led the groups of soldiers. ¹³ Together they led 307,500 soldiers who knew how to fight well. They were a powerful army that could keep the king safe against his enemies. ¹⁴ Uzziah gave shields, spears, helmets and armour to the whole army. He also gave them bows and arrows, and stones to put in their slings.

¹⁵ Men in Jerusalem who had special skills built machines that could shoot arrows and big stones. Uzziah put them on the towers and at the corners of the walls around Jerusalem. God helped him in many ways, so that he became very famous and powerful.

Uzziah becomes proud and God punishes him

¹⁶ Uzziah was so powerful that he became proud. That caused him to lose his power. He began to turn away from the Lord his God. He went into the Lord's temple to burn incense on the special altar there. ¹⁷ Azariah and 80 other brave priests of the Lord went into the temple after him. ¹⁸ They warned King Uzziah. They said to him, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Lord. Only the priests, Aaron's descendants, may do that. They are the people that God has chosen to offer incense to him. So you must leave this Holy Place because you have done something that is wrong. As a result, the Lord God will not give you any honour.’

¹⁹ Then Uzziah became angry. In his hand, he was holding a pot with hot coals and incense in it. He was standing in the Lord's temple, near the special altar for incense. The priests were there with him. When he started to shout at the priests, a bad disease suddenly appeared on the skin of his face. ²⁰ Azariah, the leader of the priests, and all the other priests turned towards Uzziah. They saw the terrible disease on the skin at the front of his head. So they quickly took him out of the temple. Uzziah himself was also in a hurry to leave, because the Lord had punished him with this disease.^[b]

King Uzziah dies

²¹ King Uzziah had the terrible disease on his skin until the day that he died. He lived in his own house, away from other people. He could not go into the Lord's temple because of his disease. His son Jotham had authority in the palace and he ruled the people of Judah.

²² All the other things that happened while Uzziah was king are written in a book. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz's son, wrote down those things. ²³ Uzziah died and they buried him near his ancestors. Because he had the terrible disease on his skin, they did not bury him beside the other kings that had died. Instead they buried him in a field for graves that belonged to the kings of Judah.

His son Jotham became king after him.