^26:12The total number of family leaders who led warriors was 2,600. ^26:13They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend¹⁹ the king against his enemies. ^26:14Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slingstones for the entire army. ^26:15In Jerusalem he made war machines carefully designed to shoot arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the walls. He became very famous, for he received tremendous support and became powerful.²⁰

^26:16But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him.²¹ He disobeyed²² the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar. ^26:17Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests of the Lord followed him in. ^26:18They confronted²³ King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Lord. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed²⁴ and the Lord God will not honor you!” ^26:19Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was ranting and raving²⁵ at the priests, a skin disease²⁶ appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the Lord’s temple near the incense altar.

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Footnotes

19 Heb “help.”
20 Heb “and his name went out to a distant place, for he did extraordinarily to be helped until he was strong.”
21 Heb “his heart was high [i.e., proud] to destroy.”
22 Or “was unfaithful to.”
23 Heb “stood against.”
24 Or “been unfaithful.”
25 Heb “angry.”
26 Traditionally “leprosy,” but this was probably a skin disorder of some type, not leprosy (technically known today as Hansen’s disease). See 2 Kgs 5:1.