2 Chronicles 26–32

Uzziah Becomes King of Judah

26All of the people of Judah made Uzziah king. He was 16 years old. They made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

²Uzziah rebuilt Elath. He brought it under Judah’s control again. He did it after Amaziah joined the members of his family who had already died.

³Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah. She was from Jerusalem.

⁴Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵He looked to God during the days of Zechariah. Zechariah taught him to have respect for God. As long as Uzziah looked to the Lord, God gave him success.

⁶Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he rebuilt some towns that were near Ashdod. He also rebuilt some other towns where Philistines lived. ⁷God helped him fight against the Philistines. He also helped him fight against the Meunites and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal. ⁸The Ammonites brought to Uzziah the gifts he required of them. He became famous all the way to the border of Egypt. That’s because he had become very powerful.

⁹Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. They were at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate and the angle of the wall. He made the towers very strong. ¹⁰He also built towers in the desert.

He dug many wells, because he had a lot of livestock. The livestock were in the western hills and on the flatlands. Uzziah had people working in his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the rich lands. That’s because he loved the soil.

¹¹Uzziah’s army was well trained. It was ready to march out by companies in keeping with their numbers. Jeiel and Maaseiah brought them together. Jeiel was the secretary. Maaseiah was the officer. They were under the direction of Hananiah. He was one of the royal officials. ¹²The total number of family leaders who were over the fighting men was 2,600. ¹³An army of 307,500 men was under their command. The men were trained for war. They were a powerful force. They helped the king against his enemies. ¹⁴Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows, and stones for their slings. ¹⁵In Jerusalem he made machines that were based on patterns that skilled men had drawn up. The machines were used on the towers and on the corners of walls. They could shoot arrows. They could also throw large stones.

Uzziah became famous everywhere. God greatly helped him until he became powerful.

¹⁶But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride brought him down. He wasn’t faithful to the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the altar for burning incense.

¹⁷The priest Azariah followed him in. So did 80 other brave priests of the Lord. ¹⁸They stood up to Uzziah. They said, “Uzziah, it isn’t right for you to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests are supposed to do that. They are members of the family line of Aaron. They have been set apart to burn incense. So get out of here. Leave the temple. You haven’t been faithful. The Lord God won’t honor you.”

¹⁹Uzziah was holding a shallow cup. He was ready to burn incense. He became angry. He shouted at the priests in the Lord’s temple. He did it near the altar for burning incense.

While he was shouting, a skin disease suddenly broke out on his forehead. ²⁰The chief priest Azariah looked at him. So did all of the other priests. They saw that Uzziah had a skin disease on his forehead. So they hurried him out of the temple. Actually, he himself really wanted to leave. He knew that the Lord was making him suffer.

²¹King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day he died. He lived in a separate house because he had the disease. And he wasn’t allowed to enter the Lord’s temple.

Uzziah’s son Jotham was in charge of the palace. Jotham ruled over the people of the land.

²²The other events of Uzziah’s rule from beginning to end were written down by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz.

²³Uzziah joined the members of his family who had already died. His body was buried near theirs in a royal burial ground. People said, “He had a skin disease.” His son Jotham became the next king after him.

Jotham Becomes King of Judah

27Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 16 years. His mother’s name was Jerusha. She was the daughter of Zadok.

²Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done. But Jotham didn’t enter the Lord’s temple as Uzziah had done. In spite of that, the people continued to do very sinful things.

³Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple. He did a lot of work on the wall at the hill of Ophel. ⁴He built towns in the hills of Judah. He also built forts and towers in areas that had a lot of trees in them.

⁵Jotham went to war against the king of Ammon. He won the battle over the people of Ammon. That year they paid Jotham almost four tons of silver. They paid him 62,000 bushels of wheat and 62,000 bushels of barley. They also brought him the same amount in the second and third years.

⁶Jotham became powerful. That’s because he had worshiped the Lord his God with all his heart.

⁷The other events of Jotham’s rule are written down. That includes all of his wars and the other things he did. All of those things are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 16 years.

⁹Jotham joined the members of his family who had already died. His body was buried in the City of David. His son Ahaz became the next king after him.

Ahaz Becomes King of Judah

28Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 16 years.

He didn’t do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He didn’t do what King David had done. ²He followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He also made metal statues of gods that were named after Baal. ³He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He sacrificed his children in the fire to other gods. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. He had driven out those nations to make room for the people of Israel. ⁴Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. He also did it on the tops of hills and under every green tree.

⁵So the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram. The men of Aram won the battle over him. They took many of his people as prisoners. They brought them to Damascus.

God also handed Ahaz over to Pekah. His army wounded or killed many of the troops of Ahaz. Pekah was king of Israel. ⁶In one day Pekah killed 120,000 soldiers in Judah. That’s because Judah had deserted the Lord, the God of their people. Pekah was the son of Remaliah.

⁷Zicri was a fighting man from Ephraim. He killed Maaseiah, Azrikam and Elkanah. Maaseiah was the king’s son. Azrikam was the officer who was in charge of the palace. And Elkanah was next in command after the king. ⁸The men of Israel captured 200,000 wives, sons and daughters from their relatives in Judah. They also took a large amount of goods. They carried all of it back to Samaria.

⁹But a prophet of the Lord was there. His name was Oded. When the army returned to Samaria, he went out to meet them. He said to them, “The Lord is the God of your people. He burned with anger against Judah. So he handed them over to you. But you have killed them. Your anger reached all the way to heaven.

¹⁰“Now you are planning to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren’t you also guilty of sins against the Lord your God? ¹¹Listen to me! You have taken your relatives from Judah as prisoners. The Lord’s anger is burning against you. So send your relatives back.”

¹²Then some of the leaders in Ephraim stood up to those who were returning from the war. The leaders were Azariah, Berekiah, Jehizkiah and Amasa. Azariah was the son of Jehohanan. Berekiah was the son of Meshillemoth. Jehizkiah was the son of Shallum. And Amasa was the son of Hadlai. ¹³“Don’t bring those prisoners here,” they said. “If you do, we’ll be guilty in the sight of the Lord. Do you really want to add to our sin and guilt? We’re already very guilty. The Lord’s anger is burning against Israel.”

¹⁴So the soldiers gave up the prisoners and the goods they had taken. They did it in front of the officials and the whole community. ¹⁵Azariah, Berekiah, Jehizkiah and Amasa received the prisoners. From the goods that had been taken they gave clothes to all those who were naked. They gave them clothes, sandals, food, drink and healing lotion. They put all of the weak people on donkeys. They took them back to their relatives at Jericho. Then they returned to Samaria. Jericho was also known as the City of Palm Trees.

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent men to the king of Assyria to get help. ¹⁷The men of Edom had come again and attacked Judah. They had carried prisoners away. ¹⁸At the same time the Philistines had attacked towns in the western hills and in the Negev Desert of Judah. They had captured Beth Shemesh, Aijalon and Gederoth. They had also captured Soco, Timnah and Gimzo and the villages that were around them. They had settled down in all of them.

¹⁹The Lord had brought Judah down because of Ahaz, their king. Ahaz had stirred up the people of Judah to do evil things. He hadn’t been faithful to the Lord at all.

²⁰Tiglath-Pileser came to Ahaz. But he gave Ahaz trouble instead of help. Tiglath-Pileser was king of Assyria. ²¹Ahaz took some things from the Lord’s temple. He also took some from the royal palace and from the princes. He gave all of them to the king of Assyria. But that didn’t help him.

²²When King Ahaz was in trouble, he became even more unfaithful to the Lord. ²³He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus. They had won the battle over him. He thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram have helped them. So I’ll sacrifice to them. Then they’ll help me.” But they brought him down. In fact, they brought the whole nation of…