2 Chronicles 26

1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.

2 He built Eilat, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jecoliah, of Jerusalem.

4 He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

5 He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

6 He went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines.

7 God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunites.

8 The Meunites gave tribute to Uzziah, and his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt; for he grew exceeding strong.

9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, and at the Valley Gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.

10 He built towers in the wilderness, and dug out many cisterns, for he had many cattle; in the Shephelah and in the plain he had farmers, and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile fields, for he loved the land.

11 Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains.

12 The whole number of the heads of ancestral houses, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand and six hundred.

13 Under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.

14 Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the army, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging.

15 He made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, until he was strong.

16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against the LORD his God; for he went into the LORD's temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

17 Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, who were valiant men:

18 and they resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, "It isn't for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither shall it be for your honor from the LORD God."

19 Then Uzziah was angry; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense.

20 Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked on him, and look, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from there; yes, himself hurried also to go out, because the LORD had struck him.

21 Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote.

23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, "He is a leper." Jotham his son reigned in his place.