¹²The total number of family heads among these warriors was 2,600. ¹³Under them was an army of 307,500 soldiers. They were a powerful force that could support the king against the enemy. ¹⁴For the entire army Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones for slings. ¹⁵In Jerusalem he made machines designed by inventive people. The machines were placed on the towers and corners to shoot arrows and hurl large stones.

King Uzziah Is Cursed with a Skin Disease—2 Kings 15:5–7

Uzziah’s fame spread far and wide because he had strong support until he became powerful. ¹⁶But when he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God. He went into the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷The priest Azariah went in after him with 80 of the Lord’s courageous priests. ¹⁸They opposed King Uzziah. They said to him, “Uzziah, you have no right to burn incense as an offering to the Lord. 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. The Lord God will not honor you for this.”

¹⁹Uzziah, who held an incense burner in his hand, became angry. While he was angry with the priests, a skin disease broke out on his forehead. This happened in front of the priests in the Lord’s temple as Uzziah was at the incense altar.

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