2 Chronicles 26
1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
2 He was the one who built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his ancestors.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah, from Jerusalem.
4 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done.
5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who understood the visions of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
6 He went out and fought against the Philistines. He broke through the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities in the region of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
7 God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived at Gur-baal, and against the Meunites.
8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame reached as far as the border of Egypt, because he became very powerful.
9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the Angle, and he fortified them.
10 He built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the Shephelah and the plain. He had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in Carmel, because he loved the land.
11 Uzziah had an army ready for war, organized into divisions. Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer kept the register of their numbers, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s officials.
12 The total number of the heads of families, the valiant warriors, was 2,600.
13 Under their command was an army of 307,500 men, equipped for war with great strength, to help the king against the enemy.
14 Uzziah prepared for them—for the whole army—shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones.
15 In Jerusalem he made devices, designed by an inventor, to be placed on the towers and at the corners, for shooting arrows and large stones. His fame spread far and wide, because he received remarkable help until he became strong.
16 But when he became strong, his heart grew proud, to his ruin, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God. He entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the incense altar.
17 The priest Azariah went in after him, along with eighty priests of the LORD, courageous men.
18 They stood before King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, because you have been unfaithful, and this will bring you no honor from the LORD God.”
19 Uzziah became angry, with a censer in his hand ready to burn incense. As he raged at the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, there before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the incense altar.
20 Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned toward him, and there was leprosy on his forehead! They hurried him out of there, and he himself rushed to leave, because the LORD had struck him.
21 King Uzziah remained a leper until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house as a leper, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. His son Jotham was in charge of the royal palace and governed the people of the land.
22 The rest of Uzziah’s deeds, from beginning to end, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
23 Uzziah rested with his ancestors, and they buried him with them in the burial field that belonged to the kings, because they said, “He is a leper.” His son Jotham reigned in his place.
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