1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
2 Uzziah rebuilt Elath and returned it to Judah after King Amaziah slept in death.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to rule. He ruled for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem.
4 He did what Jehovah considered right, as his father Amaziah had done.
5 He dedicated his life to serving God in the days of Zechariah. Zechariah taught him to respect God. As long as he dedicated his life to serve God, Jehovah gave him success.
6 Uzziah went to wage war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.
7 God helped him when he attacked the Philistines, the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunites.
8 The Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah. His fame spread to the border of Egypt because he became very powerful.
9 Uzziah strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem. He built towers at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and where the wall turned.
10 He also built fortified towers in the open country and dug many cisterns, because he had large herds of livestock in the western foothills and plains. Because he loved farming, he encouraged the people to plant vineyards in the hill country and to farm the fertile land.
11 He had a large army ready for battle. Its records were kept by his secretaries Jeiel and Maaseiah under the supervision of Hananiah, a member of the king's staff.
12 The total number of family heads among these warriors was twenty-six hundred.
13 They commanded an army of three hundred seven thousand and five hundred soldiers. They were a powerful force that could support the king against the enemy.
14 Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones for slings for the entire army.
15 In Jerusalem he manufactured machines designed by inventive people. The machines were placed on the towers and corners to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. Uzziah's fame spread far and wide because he had strong support until he became powerful.
16 However when he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He was unfaithful to Jehovah his God. He went into Jehovah's Temple to burn incense on the incense altar.
17 Azariah the priest went in after him with eighty of Jehovah's courageous priests.
18 They opposed King Uzziah. They said to him: Uzziah, you have no right to burn incense as an offering to Jehovah. That right belongs to the priests, Aaron's descendants, who have been given the holy task of burning incense. Get out of the holy place because you have been unfaithful. Jehovah God will not honor you for this.
19 Uzziah held an incense burner in his hand. He became angry. As his anger with the priests grew, a skin disease broke out on his forehead. This happened in front of the priests in Jehovah's Temple as Uzziah was at the incense altar.
20 When the chief priest Azariah and all the priests turned toward him, a skin disease was on his forehead. They rushed him away. Uzziah was in a hurry to get out because Jehovah had inflicted him with the disease.
21 King Uzziah had a skin disease until the day he died. Since he had a skin disease, he lived in a separate house and was barred from Jehovah's Temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the royal palace and governed the country.