Chronological

15 ^1-2 New king of Judah: Azariah

³ Azariah was a good king, and he pleased the Lord just as his father Amaziah had. ⁴ But like his predecessors, he didn’t destroy the shrines on the hills where the people sacrificed and burned incense. ⁵ Because of this^[a] the Lord struck him with leprosy, which lasted until the day of his death; so he lived in a house by himself. And his son Jotham was the acting king. ⁶ The rest of the history of Azariah is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Judah. ⁷ When Azariah died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Jotham became king.

⁹ But Zechariah was an evil king in the Lord’s sight, just like his ancestors. Like Jeroboam I (the son of Nebat), he encouraged Israel in the sin of worshiping idols. ¹⁰ Then Shallum (the son of Jabesh) conspired against him and assassinated him at Ibleam and took the crown himself. ¹¹ The rest of the history of Zechariah’s reign is found in The Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹² (So the Lord’s statement to Jehu came true, that Jehu’s son, grandson, and great-grandson would be kings of Israel.^[b])

¹⁴ One month after Shallum became king, Menahem (the son of Gadi) came to Samaria from Tirzah and assassinated him and took the throne. ¹⁵ Additional details about King Shallum and his conspiracy^[c] are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Menahem destroyed the city of Tappuah and the surrounding countryside, for its citizens refused to accept him as their king; he killed the entire population and ripped open the pregnant women.

¹⁸ But Menahem was an evil king. He worshiped idols, as King Jeroboam I had done so long before, and he led the people of Israel into grievous sin. ^19-20 Then King Pul of Assyria invaded the land; but King Menahem bought him off with a gift of $2,000,000, so he turned around and returned home. Menahem extorted the money from the rich, assessing each one $2,000 in the form of a special tax. ²¹ The rest of the history of King Menahem is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel. ²² When he died, his son Pekahiah became the new king.

²⁴ But Pekahiah was an evil king, and he continued the idol worship begun by Jeroboam I (son of Nebat) who led Israel down that evil trail.

²⁵ Then Pekah (son of Remaliah), the commanding general of his army, conspired against him with fifty men from Gilead and assassinated him in the palace at Samaria (Argob and Arieh were also slain in the revolt). So Pekah became the new king. ²⁶ The rest of the history of King Pekahiah is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

²⁸ Pekah, too, was an evil king, and he continued in the example of Jeroboam I (son of Nebat), who led all of Israel into the sin of worshiping idols. ²⁹ It was during his reign that King Tiglath-pileser^[d] led an attack against Israel. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; and he took the people away to Assyria as captives. ³⁰ Then Hoshea (the son of Elah) plotted against Pekah and assassinated him; and he took the throne for himself.

³¹ The rest of the history of Pekah’s reign is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

^34-35 Generally speaking, Jotham was a good king. Like his father Uzziah, he followed the Lord. But he didn’t destroy the shrines on the hills where the people sacrificed and burned incense. It was during King Jotham’s reign that the upper gate of the Temple of the Lord was built. ³⁶ The rest of Jotham’s history is written in The Annals of the Kings of Judah. ³⁷ In those days the Lord caused King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel to attack Judah. ³⁸ When Jotham died he was buried with the other kings of Judah in the royal cemetery, in the City of David section of Jerusalem. Then his son Ahaz became the new king.

26 The people of Judah now crowned sixteen-year-old Uzziah as their new king. ² After his father’s death, he rebuilt the city of Eloth and restored it to Judah. ³ In all, he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah, from Jerusalem. ⁴ He followed in the footsteps of his father Amaziah and was, in general, a good king in the Lord’s sight.

⁵ While Zechariah was alive Uzziah was always eager to please God. Zechariah was a man who had special revelations from God. And as long as the king followed the paths of God, he prospered, for God blessed him.

⁶ He declared war on the Philistines and captured the city of Gath and broke down its walls, also those of Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he built new cities in the Ashdod area and in other parts of the Philistine country. ⁷ God helped him not only with his wars against the Philistines but also in his battles with the Arabs of Gur-baal and in his wars with the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites paid annual tribute to him, and his fame spread even to Egypt, for he was very powerful.

⁹ He built fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, and the Valley Gate, and at the turning of the wall. ¹⁰ He also constructed forts in the Negeb and made many water reservoirs, for he had great herds of cattle out in the valleys and on the plains. He was a man who loved the soil and had many farms and vineyards, both on the hillsides and in the fertile valleys.

¹¹ He organized his army into regiments to which men were drafted under quotas set by Jeiel, the secretary of the army, and his assistant, Maaseiah. The commander-in-chief was General Hananiah. ¹² Twenty-six hundred brave clan leaders commanded these regiments. ¹³ The army consisted of 307,500 men, all elite troops. ¹⁴ Uzziah issued to them shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and sling stones. ¹⁵ And he produced engines of war manufactured in Jerusalem, invented by brilliant men to shoot arrows and huge stones from the towers and battlements. So he became very famous, for the Lord helped him wonderfully until he was very powerful.

¹⁶ But at that point he became proud—and corrupt. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the forbidden sanctuary of the Temple and personally burning incense upon the altar. ^17-18 Azariah the High Priest went in after him with eighty other priests, all brave men, and demanded that he get out.

“It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense,” they declared. “That is the work of the priests alone, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to this work. Get out, for you have trespassed, and the Lord is not going to honor you for this!”

¹⁹ Uzziah was furious and refused to set down the incense burner he was holding. But look! Suddenly—leprosy appeared on his forehead! ²⁰ When Azariah and the others saw it, they rushed him out; in fact, he himself was as anxious to get out as they were to get him out because the Lord had struck him.

²¹ So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death and lived in isolation, cut off from his people and from the Temple. His son Jotham became vice-regent, in charge of the king’s affairs and of the judging of the people of the land.

²² The other details of Uzziah’s reign from first to last are recorded by the prophet Isaiah (son of Amoz). ²³ When Uzziah died, he was buried in the royal cemetery even though he was a leper, and his son Jotham became the new king.