Uzziah Reigns in Judah
1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. 2 He built Eloth and restored it to Judah. After that the king rested with his fathers.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. 4 He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
5 He sought God during the lifetime of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
Uzziah’s Victories
6 He went out and fought against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod and among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah. His name spread abroad, to the entrance of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong.
9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley gate, and where the wall turned; and he fortified them. 10 He built towers in the wilderness and dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock in the lowland and also in the plain. He had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved farming.
11 Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by division, according to their number, made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. 12 The whole number of family leaders, the mighty men of valor, was 2,600. 13 Under their hand was a mighty and powerful army of 307,500, who waged wars, to help the king against the enemy.
14 Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging for the whole army. 15 In Jerusalem, he made devices, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad because he was helped tremendously until he became powerful.
Uzziah’s Pride, Leprosy, Death
16 When Uzziah had become powerful, his heart became proud so that he acted corruptly and trespassed against the Lord his God, for he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest went in after him and with him 80 priests of the Lord, who were valiant men.
18 They resisted Uzziah the king and said to him, “It isn’t 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 of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from the Lord God.”
19 Then Uzziah was angry, and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. While he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the temple of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. 20 Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and he was leprous in his forehead, and they cast him out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself also hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. 21 Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death and, being a leper, lived in a separate house, 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.
22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from the first to the last, were recorded by Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 23 So Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.