2 Chronicles 26

Uzziah Becomes King

1All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his ancestors. 3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. 4He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. 5He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And in the days that he sought the LORD, God caused him to prosper.

Uzziah’s Military Success

6He went out and fought against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. He built cities in the territory of Ashdod and among the Philistines. 7God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur-Baal, and against the Meunites. 8The Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah, and his fame went as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong. 9Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and fortified them. 10He built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had much livestock in the foothills and on the plain. He had farmers and vineyard workers in the mountains and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.

Uzziah’s Army and Inventions

11Uzziah had an army trained for war, going out to battle by divisions according to the number in their enrollment by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. 12The whole number of heads of ancestral houses of the mighty warriors was two thousand six hundred. 13Under their hand was an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred who made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy. 14Uzziah prepared for them, for all the army, shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and sling stones. 15In Jerusalem he made devices invented by skilled men to be upon the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. His fame went out far, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.

Uzziah Becomes Proud

16But when he became strong, his heart became high, to his destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 17Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, courageous men. 18They stood against King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out from the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully, and it will not be for your honor from the LORD God.”

Uzziah Is Struck with Skin Disease

19Then Uzziah became enraged, and in his hand was a censer for burning incense. While he was enraged with the priests, skin disease broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the incense altar. 20Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned toward him, and look, he had skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out from there, and he himself hurried to go out, for the LORD had struck him. 21King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day of his death and lived in a separate house, being diseased, for he was cut off from the house of the LORD. Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. 22Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet wrote. 23Uzziah lay down with his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” Jotham his son became king in his place.