1All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
2He rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king had died and joined his ancestors.
3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jechiliah, from Jerusalem.
4He did what was right in Yahweh's eyes, just as his father Amaziah had done.
5He dedicated himself to seeking God during the time of Zechariah, who understood God's visions. As long as he sought Yahweh, God made him prosper.
6He went out and fought against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
7God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunim.
8The Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah. His reputation spread all the way to Egypt, because he had become extremely powerful.
9Uzziah also built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and where the wall turned, and he made them strong.
10He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns because he owned a lot of livestock. He also had livestock in the foothills and on the plains. He had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and fertile fields, because he loved farming.
11Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war in groups. Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer counted and organized them under the command of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.
12The total number of family heads, who were brave warriors, was two thousand six hundred.
13Under their command was an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred men who fought with great power to help the king against his enemies.
14Uzziah provided for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging.
15In Jerusalem, he built machines, invented by skilled men, to be placed on the towers and battlements for shooting arrows and large stones. His fame spread far and wide, because he was miraculously helped until he became strong.
16But when he became strong, he became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against Yahweh his God by entering Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.
17Azariah the priest followed him, along with eighty strong priests of Yahweh.
18They confronted King Uzziah and told him, “Uzziah, it is not your place to burn incense to Yahweh. Only the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been set apart for this, should burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, because you have sinned. Yahweh God will not honor you for this.”
19Then Uzziah became angry. He was holding a censer to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead right there in Yahweh’s house, beside the altar of incense.
20Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, and indeed, he had leprosy on his forehead. They quickly forced him out of there. Yes, Uzziah himself also hurried to leave, because Yahweh had struck him.
21King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house as a leper, because he was cut off from Yahweh’s house. His son Jotham was in charge of the king’s household, governing the people of the land.
22As for the rest of Uzziah’s actions, from beginning to end, the prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, wrote about them.
23So Uzziah died and was buried with his ancestors in the royal burial field, because people said, “He is a leper.” His son Jotham became king in his place.