26:1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place. 26:2 Uzziah¹ built up Elath and restored it to Judah after the king² had passed away.

26:3 Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem. 26:4 He did what the LORD approved, just as his father Amaziah had done.³ 26:5 He followed⁴ God during the lifetime of⁵ Zechariah, who taught him how to honor God. As long as he followed⁶ the LORD, God caused him to succeed.⁷

26:6 Uzziah attacked⁸ the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and throughout Philistine territory.⁹ 26:7 God helped him in his campaigns¹⁰ against the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. 26:8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame reached¹¹ the border of Egypt, for he grew in power.

26:9 Uzziah built and fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, Valley Gate, and at the “Angle.”¹² 26:10 He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands¹³ and the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel,¹⁴ for he loved agriculture.¹⁵

26:11 Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official. 26:12 The total number of family leaders who led warriors was 2,600. 26:13 They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend¹⁶ the king against his enemies. 26:14 Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, breastplates, bows and slingstones for the entire army. 26:15 In Jerusalem he made war machines carefully designed to shoot arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the walls. He became very famous, for he received tremendous support and became powerful.¹⁷

26:16 But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him.¹⁸ He disobeyed¹⁹ the LORD his God. He entered the LORD’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar. 26:17 Azariah the priest and 80 other brave priests of the LORD followed him in. 26:18 They confronted²⁰ King Uzziah and said to him, “It is no proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the LORD. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendents of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed²¹ and the LORD God will not honor you.” 26:19 Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was yelling²² at the priests, a skin disease²³ appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the LORD’s temple near the incense altar. 26:20 When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at²⁴ him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They took him out of there; even he was in a hurry to leave because the LORD had afflicted him. 26:21 King Uzziah suffered from a skin disease until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters,²⁵ afflicted by a skin disease and banned from the LORD’s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

26:22 The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from start to finish, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.²⁶ 26:23 Uzziah passed away²⁷ and was buried near his ancestors in a cemetery²⁸ belonging to the kings. (This was because he had a skin disease.)²⁹ His son Jotham replaced him as king.