^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. ^26:20When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at²⁷ him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there; even the king²⁸ himself wanted to leave quickly because the Lord had afflicted him. ^26:21King Uzziah suffered from a skin disease until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters,²⁹ afflicted by a skin disease and banned from the Lord’s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

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Footnotes

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.
27 Heb “turned toward.”
28 Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 The precise meaning of בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית (bet hakhafshiyt, “house of [?]”) is uncertain. , , all have “in a separate house”; has “in his own house … relieved of all duties.” For a discussion of various proposals, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (), .