2 Chronicles Chapter 26

Uzziah Rules Judah

¹ The people in Judah took Uzziah/Azariah at 16 and made him king after his father Amaziah. ² He built Eloth and restored it to Judah, ³ and ruled for 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jechiliah of Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what was good like everything good his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He continued to look to God in the time of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God. As long as he sought Yahveh, God caused him to flourish.                                                                                                       2 Ch 26:1-5

⁶ He went out and fought the Philistines, and tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built towns around Ashdod among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabians in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites paid him tribute, and his reputation extended to the border of Egypt, because he became very strong. ⁹ In addition, he built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and the Valley Gate at the Angle, and fortified them. ¹⁰ He built towers in the countryside and hewed out many cisterns, because he had lots of livestock in the western foothills and in the plains. He had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and fertile fields because he loved the soil. ¹¹ Uzziah/Azariah had an army ready for battle, which entered combat by divisions, according to the number of their muster, prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the official under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s officers. ¹² The number of family leaders over trained soldiers was 2,600. ¹³ They directed an elite army of 307,500 that could wage war with great power against the king’s enemies. ¹⁴ For the whole army, Uzziah/Azariah prepared shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and sling stones. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he constructed engines of war invented by skilled men, and put them on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and catapult large stones. His reputation spread because he was marvelously helped until he became strong. 2 Ch 26:6-15

¹⁶ But when he became strong, his pride led him to act corruptly. He became unfaithful by going into Yahveh’s Temple and burning incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ Azariah the priest came in after him with 80 of the priests, brave men, ¹⁸ to oppose him,

“You’re not supposed to burn incense. That’s for the priests to do, consecrated descendants of Aaron. Get out of the sanctuary. You’ve been unfaithful and won’t have any honor from Yahveh God.”

¹⁹ But Uzziah/Azariah, with a censer in hand for burning incense, was mad. While he ranted at the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead beside the altar of incense. ²⁰ Azariah and the priests saw it and hurried him out of there. He hurried to get out himself because Yahveh had struck him. ²¹ For the rest of his life, he lived as a leper in a house separate from the^Y Temple. His son Jotham managed the king’s palace and judged the people. ²² The rest of the acts of Uzziah/Azariah, first to last, the prophet Isaiah Ben-Amoz has recorded. ²³ Uzziah died, and they buried him in a burial field that the kings owned, because he was a leper. His son Jotham became king.                2 Ch 26:16-23