2 Chronicles 26 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~792-740 BC, the long reign of King Uzziah of Judah, also called Azariah, overlapping the early ministry of the prophet Isaiah
Location
Jerusalem and a much enlarged Judah, including the rebuilt Red Sea port of Elath, Philistine territory on the coast, and desert cisterns and farmland in the south
Audience
Jews after the exile, remembering a golden age of Judean prosperity and the reason it ended for its king
Situation
Uzziah becomes powerful through military reform, agriculture, and building, inventing engines of war for the towers of Jerusalem. At the height of his success he enters the temple to burn incense himself, is confronted by eighty priests, and is struck with a skin disease that isolates him for the rest of his life.
Key Background
Burning incense on the altar inside the sanctuary was reserved to the descendants of Aaron, and the point of dispute is not sincerity but role, since kings in surrounding nations routinely served as chief priests and Uzziah was reaching for that combined authority. His interest in cisterns, vineyards, and desert herds reflects a real expansion of settlement into the dry Negev region, which archaeology in the area supports. The disease named here covers a range of disfiguring skin conditions rather than modern leprosy specifically, and it required living apart from the community, which is why his son ran the government while he lived in a separate house.
Then all the people of Judah took who was sixteen years old, and made him king to succeed his father Amaziah.
He rebuilt and restored it to Judah after Amaziah with
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah, from Jerusalem.
He did what Yahweh considered following the example of his father Amaziah.
He devoted himself to during the lifetime of Zechariah, who taught him to And as long as he sought Yahweh, made him
He went out and waged war against the He broke down the walls of Gath, the walls of Jabneh, and the walls of Ashdod. Then he built towns in the territory of Ashdod and throughout Philistine land.
God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs living in Gur-baal, and against the
The Ammonites paid to Uzziah, and his reputation spread all the way to the border of Egypt, because he had become
Uzziah built in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the Angle, and fortified them.
He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many because he had large herds in the foothills and on the plains, along with farmers and vineyard workers in the hill country and the fertile lands. He the
Uzziah also had a trained army ready for battle, organized into based on the count taken by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer, under the command of Hananiah, one of the king's generals.
The total number of who were fighting men came to 2,600.
Under their command was a fighting force of 307,500, a powerful army to back the king against any enemy.
Uzziah equipped the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, bows, and slingstones.
In Jerusalem he set up designed by engineers, positioned on the towers and corners, to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, because he received until he became powerful.
But when he became powerful, his destroyed him. He with Yahweh his God by entering Yahweh's temple to burn on the
Azariah the priest went in after him, along with eighty of Yahweh's priests — all
They confronted King Uzziah and told him, "It is not your Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh. That belongs to the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been to for this Get out of the for You have broken faith, and Yahweh will not you for this."
Uzziah was furious. He was holding the incense burner, ready to burn incense, when — right there, as he raged at the priests — a erupted on his right in front of the priests in Yahweh's house, beside the incense altar.
When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned toward there it was — the disease, right on his forehead. They rushed out of there, and he himself hurried to leave, because Yahweh had
King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day he died. He lived in a afflicted with the disease, because he was from Yahweh's His son Jotham managed the royal palace and governed the people of the land.
As for the rest of Uzziah's story, from beginning to end, the prophet son of Amoz wrote it down.
Uzziah rested with his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in a belonging to the kings, because people said, "He had the skin disease." His son Jotham became king in his place.