2 Chronicles 26
1 After King Amaziah died, all the people of Judah appointed his son Uzziah, who then was 16 years old, as their king. [One of the things that happened] while he was the king [was that] his men captured Elath [town on the Gulf of Aqaba] and rebuilt it.
All the people of Judah took Uzziah, sixteen years old, and made him king in succession to his father Amaziah.
He rebuilt Eloth and brought it back into the kingdom of Judah after Amaziah died.
3 Uzziah ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.
Uzziah was sixteen when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah and she came from Jerusalem.
4 Uzziah did things that Yahweh considered to be good, like his father Amaziah had done.
He did what was right in the Lord's sight as his father Amaziah had done.
5 He tried to please God while [the priest] Zechariah was living, because Zechariah taught him to revere God. As long as Uzziah tried to please God, God enabled him to be successful.
He worshiped God during the lifetime of Zechariah, who taught him to respect God. As long as he followed the Lord, God made him successful.
6 Uzziah and his army started to fight against the army of Philistia. They tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod [cities]. Then they rebuilt the towns near Ashdod and in other places in Philistia.
Uzziah went to war against the Philistines, and he demolished the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities around Ashdod and in other Philistine areas.
7 God helped them to fight the army of Philistia and the Arabs who lived in [the town of] Gur-Baal and the descendants of Meun who had come to that area from Edom.
God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians living in Gurbaal, and against the Meunites.
8 Even the Ammon [people-group] paid taxes to Uzziah each year. So Uzziah became famous as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.
The Meunites brought gifts as tribute to Uzziah. His reputation spread as far as the border of Egypt, for he became very powerful.
9 Uzziah’s [workers] built watchtowers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the place where the wall turns, and they placed weapons in them.
Uzziah built defensive towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and the Valley Gate, and at the corner, and strengthened them.
10 They also built watchtowers in the desert and dug many wells. They did that [to provide water] for a lot of the king’s cattle that were in the foothills and in the plains. Uzziah liked farming, so he also stationed workers [to take care of] his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile areas.
He also built towers in the desert and cut many water cisterns out of the rock, because he had a great deal of livestock in the foothills and on the plains. He had farmers and vineyard workers in the hills and in the fertile lowlands, for he loved the soil.
11 Uzziah’s army was trained for fighting battles. They were in groups that were always ready to go into battle. Jeiel, the king’s secretary, and Maaseiah, one of the army officers, counted the men and placed them in groups. Hananiah, one of the king’s officials, was their commander.
Uzziah had an army of battle-ready soldiers, in divisions according to the numbers in the listing made by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the official, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders.
12 There were 2,600 leaders of those groups of soldiers.
The total number of family leaders was 2,600 fighting men.
13 In the groups that those leaders commanded there were a total of 307,500 well-trained soldiers. It was a very powerful army which was ready to help the king fight against his enemies.
Under their command was an army of 307,500 trained for battle, who had the power to help the king fight against the enemy.
14 Uzziah gave to each soldier a shield, a spear, a helmet, a vest made of iron plates, a bow [and arrows], and a slingshot.
Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones for the whole army.
15 In Jerusalem his skilled workers made machines to put on the watchtowers and on the corners [of the walls], to shoot arrows and to hurl large stones. He became very famous even in distant places, because God helped him very much and enabled him to become very powerful.
He also made skillfully designed war machines to fire arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the wall. His reputation spread far and wide, for he received extraordinary help until he became really powerful.
16 But because Uzziah was very powerful, he became very proud, and that led to his being punished. He disobeyed what Yahweh his God had commanded. He went into the temple to burn incense on the altar [where God had said that only the priests should burn] incense.
But because he was powerful he became arrogant, and this sled to his ruin. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and he himself entered the Lord's Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.
17 Azariah the [Supreme] Priest and 80 other brave priests followed him into the temple.
Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty brave priests of the Lord.
18 They rebuked him and said to him, “Uzziah, it is not right for you to burn incense to [honor] Yahweh. That duty is only for the priests, those who are descendants of Aaron [our first Supreme Priest]! You must leave [immediately], because you have disobeyed Yahweh our God, and he will not honor you [for what you have done]!”
They stood up to him, and told him, “It's not your place to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been set apart as holy may burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned, and the Lord God will not bless you.”
19 Uzziah had in his hand a pan for burning incense. He became very angry with the priests, but suddenly there was leprosy on his forehead.
Uzziah, who was holding a censer in his hand to offer incense, became furious. But as he raged at the priests in the Lord's Temple in front of the altar of incense, leprosy appeared on his forehead.
20 When Azariah the [Supreme] Priest and all the other priests [who were there] looked at him, they saw the leprosy on his forehead, so they quickly took him outside. And truly the king was eager to leave the temple, because he knew that it was Yahweh who had caused him to have that leprosy, [and he did not want it to become worse.]
When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and saw the leprosy on his forehead, they rushed him out. In fact he too was in a hurry to leave, because the Lord had struck him.
21 King Uzziah had leprosy until he died. And because he had leprosy, he lived in a house that was not near other houses, and he was not allowed to enter [the courtyard of] the temple. His son Jotham supervised the palace and ruled the people of Judah.
King Uzziah was a leper until the day he died. He lived by himself as a leper, barred from entering the Lord's Temple, while his son Jotham was placed in charge or the king's affairs and governed the country.
22 A record of all the other things that Uzziah did while he was the king [of Judah] was written by the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
The rest of what Uzziah did, from beginning to end, was written down by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
23 Because Uzziah was a leper, [when he died, ] they would not bury him in the tombs where the other kings were buried. Instead, he was buried in a nearby cemetery that the kings owned. Then his son Jotham became the king [of Judah].
Uzziah died and was buried near them in a cemetery belonging to the kings, for people said, “He was a leper.” His son Jotham took over as king.
