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26
1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, sixteen years old, and made him king in succession to his father Amaziah. 2 He rebuilt Eloth and brought it back into the kingdom of Judah after Amaziah died. 3 Uzziah was sixteen when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah and she came from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the Lord's sight as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He worshiped God during the lifetime of Zechariah, who taught him to respect God. As long as he followed the Lord, God made him successful.
6 Uzziah went to war against the Philistines, and he demolished the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities around Ashdod and in other Philistine areas. 7 God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians living in Gurbaal, and against the Meunites. 8 The Meunites*“Meunites”: Septuagint reading. Hebrew has “Ammonites.” brought gifts as tribute to Uzziah. His reputation spread as far as the border of Egypt, for he became very powerful.
9 Uzziah built defensive towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and the Valley Gate, and at the corner, and strengthened them. 10 He also built towers in the desert and cut many water cisterns out of the rock, because he had a great deal of livestock in the foothills and on the plains. He had farmers and vineyard workers in the hills and in the fertile lowlands, for he loved the soil. 11 Uzziah had an army of battle-ready soldiers, in divisions according to the numbers in the listing made by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the official, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders. 12 The total number of family leaders was 2,600 fighting men. 13 Under their command was an army of 307,500 trained for battle, who had the power to help the king fight against the enemy.
14 Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones for the whole army. 15 He also made skillfully designed war machines to fire arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the wall. His reputation spread far and wide, for he received extraordinary help until he became really powerful. 16 But because he was powerful he became arrogant, and this led to his ruin. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and he himself entered the Lord's Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty brave priests of the Lord. 18 They stood up to him, and told him, “It's not your place to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been set apart as holy may burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned, and the Lord God will not bless you.”
19 Uzziah, who was holding a censer in his hand to offer incense, became furious. But as he raged at the priests in the Lord's Temple in front of the altar of incense, leprosy appeared on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and saw the leprosy on his forehead, they rushed him out. In fact he too was in a hurry to leave, because the Lord had struck him. 21 King Uzziah was a leper until the day he died. He lived by himself as a leper, barred from entering the Lord's Temple, while his son Jotham was placed in charge of the king's affairs and governed the country.
22 The rest of what Uzziah did, from beginning to end, was written down by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. 23 Uzziah died and was buried near them in a cemetery belonging to the kings, for people said, “He was a leper.” His son Jotham took over as king.

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*26:8 “Meunites”: Septuagint reading. Hebrew has “Ammonites.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher