1 ¶ Then 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 Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after Amaziah the king slept with his fathers.

3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

4 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.

5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

6 And he went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities near Ashdod, and elsewhere among the Philistines.

7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabs who lived in Gurbaal, and the Mehunim.

8 And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the border of Egypt; for he became very strong.

9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley gate, and at the turn of the wall, and fortified them.

10 He also built towers in the desert, and dug many wells: for he had many cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: he also had farmers, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved farming.

11 Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, who went out to war by regiments, according to the number recorded by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders.

12 The total number of the clan leaders of these mighty men of valor were two thousand and six hundred.

13 And under their hand was an army, of three hundred and seven thousand, five hundred, who could fight with great ability, to help the king against the enemy.

14 And for the entire army, Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and slings to cast stones.

15 And in Jerusalem he built engines, invented by skilled men, to be placed on the towers and on the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far and wide; because he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

16 ¶ But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

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

18 And they opposed king Uzziah, and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense: leave the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; and that will not be to your honor before the LORD God.

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

20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and, behold, he was leprous on his forehead, and they thrust him out of there; yea, he hurried to get out, because the LORD had smitten him.

21 And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, as a leper; for he was excluded from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was in charge of the king’s palace, judging the people of the land.

22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, were recorded by Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers outside the tombs in the burial field of kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.