Uzziah Rules Judah

26 Then all the people took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. ² He built Eloth and returned it to Judah after the king died. ³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king. And he ruled fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem. ⁴ Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He did all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He kept on looking to God in the days of Zechariah, who had special wisdom from God and taught him in the things of God. And as long as he looked to the Lord, God made things go well for him.

⁶ Uzziah went out and made war against the Philistines. He broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod. And he built cities in the land of Ashdod and among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah. And his name was known as far as the land of Egypt, for he became very strong. ⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the place where the walls joined. And he made them strong. ¹⁰ He built towers in the desert and dug many wells. For he had many animals, both in the valley and in the plain. He also had farmers and vine-keepers in the hill country and in the good growing fields, for he loved farming. ¹¹ And Uzziah had an army ready for battle. It was divided by the number of names written down by Jeiel the writer and Maaseiah the captain, led by Hananiah, one of the king’s leaders. ¹² The whole number of the leaders of the family groups of powerful soldiers was 2,600. ¹³ Under their leading was an army of 307,500, who could fight with great power, to help the king against those who hated them. ¹⁴ Uzziah had battle-coverings, spears, head-coverings, strong battle-clothes, bows, and slings using arrows and large stones made for all the army. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he made large objects of war, planned by able men, to be on the towers and the corners. They were for shooting arrows and big stones. So Uzziah’s name became known in far away places. For he was helped by God in a very special way until he was strong.

Uzziah Is Punished because of His Pride

¹⁶ But when he became strong, Uzziah’s heart was so proud that his actions were sinful. He was not faithful to the Lord his God, for he went into the Lord’s house to burn special perfume on the altar of special perfume. ¹⁷ Then Azariah the religious leader went in after him, with eighty religious leaders of the Lord who were men strong in heart. ¹⁸ They went against King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn special perfume to the Lord. It should be done by the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron, who are set apart to burn special perfume. Get out of the holy place, for you have not been faithful. You will have no honor from the Lord God.” ¹⁹ Then Uzziah was angry, and he had a dish in his hand for burning special perfume. While he was angry with the religious leaders, a bad skin disease broke out on his forehead in front of the religious leaders in the Lord’s house, beside the altar of special perfume. ²⁰ Azariah the head religious leader and all the religious leaders looked at him and saw that he had a bad skin disease on his forehead. So they were quick to get him out of there, and he himself left in a hurry because the Lord had punished him. ²¹ King Uzziah had the bad skin disease to the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, suffering with the skin disease, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And his son Jotham was over the king’s house, ruling the people of the land. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last, were written by the man of God Isaiah, the son of Amoz. ²³ Uzziah died, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings. For they said, “He has a bad skin disease.” And Jotham his son became king in his place.

Jotham Rules Judah

27 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king. And he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. ² Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He did all that his father Uzziah had done, only he did not go into the house of the Lord. But the people still sinned much. ³ Jotham built the upper gate of the Lord’s house, and did much building on the wall of Ophel. ⁴ He built cities in the hill country of Judah, and strong places and towers on the tree-covered hills. ⁵ He fought with the king of the Ammonites and won the war against them so that the Ammonites paid taxes to him. During that year they paid him silver weighing as much as 100 men, 100,000 baskets of wheat, and 100,000 baskets of barley. The Ammonites also paid him this amount in the second and in the third year. ⁶ So Jotham became powerful, because he let the Lord his God lead him in all his ways. ⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, all his wars and his acts, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹ Jotham died and they buried him in the city of David. His son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz Rules Judah

28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king. And he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. ² But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He also made objects to look like the false gods of Baal. ³ He burned special perfume in the valley of Ben-Hinnom. And he burned his sons in fire, following the hated ways of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel. ⁴ He gave gifts in worship and burned special perfume on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Syria and Israel Win over Judah

⁵ So the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria. The Syrians won the war against Ahaz and carried away many of his people to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who killed many of his people in the war. ⁶ For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 powerful soldiers of Judah in one day, because they had turned away from the Lord God of their fathers. ⁷ And Zichri, a strong man of Ephraim, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second in power to the king.

Oded—the Man of God

⁸ The sons of Israel carried away 200,000 women and sons and daughters of Judah. They also took many good things from them to Samaria. ⁹ But a man who spoke for the Lord was there, whose name was Oded. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “See, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has given them into your hand. But you have killed them in an anger which has even gone up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you plan to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem work hard for you. Do you not have sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Now listen to me. Return the people whom you have taken from your brothers. For the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” ¹² Then some of the leaders of the sons of Ephraim stood up against those who were coming from the battle. These leaders were Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai. ¹³ They said, “You must not bring the people in here. For you plan to bring guilt upon us against the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt. We are already so guilty that His burning anger is against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the men of war left the people and things taken from Judah in front of the leaders and all the people of Israel. ¹⁵ Then the men who were chosen by name came and took the people of Judah. And they gave clothing to all of them who had none, using the clothes found among the things taken from Judah. They gave them clothes and shoes, and food and drink, and poured oil on them. They led all their weak ones on donkeys, and brought them to their brothers at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help. ¹⁷ For the Edomites had come to fight Judah again, and carried people away. ¹⁸ The Philistines also had come to fight against the cities of the valley and of the Negev of Judah. They had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they came to live there. ¹⁹ For the Lord brought trouble to Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel. Ahaz caused the people of Judah to sin and was not faithful to the Lord. ²⁰ So King Tilgath-pilneser of Assyria came against him and brought him trouble instead of strength. ²¹ Ahaz took riches from the house of the Lord and from the house of the king and of the princes, and gave them to the king of Assyria. But it did not help him.

The Sins and Death of Ahaz

²² In the time of his trouble, this same King Ahaz became even less faithful to the Lord. ²³ For he gave gifts on the altar to the gods of Damascus who had beaten him in battle. He said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will give gifts to them so they may help me.” But they were what destroyed him and all Israel. ²⁴ Ahaz gathered together the objects of the house of God and cut them in pieces. Then he closed the doors of the Lord’s house, and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every city of Judah he made high places to burn special perfume to other gods. And he made the Lord, the God of his fathers, very angry. ²⁶ Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ Ahaz died, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem. They did not bring him into the graves of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son ruled in his place.

Hezekiah Rules Judah

29 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old. And he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ² Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He did all that his father David had done.

Hezekiah Makes the House of God Holy Again

³ In the first month of the first year of his rule, he opened the doors of the Lord’s house and made them like new. ⁴ He brought in the religious leaders and the Levites, and gathered them in the open space on the east side. ⁵ Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Now make yourselves holy. And make holy the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Carry what is unclean out from the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers have not been faithful. They have done what is bad in the eyes of the Lord our God. They have left Him and turned their faces away from the house of the Lord. They have turned their backs. ⁷ They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps. They have not burned special perfume or given burnt gifts in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ So the Lord was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of fear and wonder and shame, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ See, our fathers have fallen by the sword. And our sons, our daughters and our wives have been taken away to a strange land because of this. ¹⁰ Now it is in my heart to make an agreement with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, take care now. For the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to do His work and to burn special perfume.”

¹² Then the Levites set to work. There was Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kohathites. From the sons of Merari there was Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel. From the Gershonites there was Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah. ¹³ There were Shimri and Jeiel from the sons of Elizaphan. There were Zechariah and Mattaniah from the sons of Asaph. ¹⁴ From the sons of Heman there were Jehiel and Shimei. And from the sons of Jeduthun there were Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵ They gathered their brothers and made themselves holy, and went in to make the Lord’s house clean, as the king had told them by the words of the Lord. ¹⁶ The religious leaders went in to the inside part of the Lord’s house to make it clean. They brought out to the open space of the Lord’s house everything they found inside which was unclean. Then the Levites took it and carried it out to the river of Kidron. ¹⁷ They began to make it holy on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the Lord. Then they made the Lord’s house holy in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month. ¹⁸ Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have made clean the whole house of the Lord, the altar of burnt gifts with all of its objects, and the table of holy bread with all of its objects. ¹⁹ And we have made all the objects holy which King Ahaz had thrown away during his rule when he was not faithful. See, they are before the altar of the Lord.”

Worship in the House of God Again

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah got up early and gathered the city rulers and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats, for a sin gift for the nation, the holy place, and Judah. Hezekiah told the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron, to give them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they killed the bulls, and the religious leaders took the blood and put it on the altar. They killed the rams and put the blood on the altar. And they killed the lambs and put the blood on the altar. ²³ Then they brought the male goats of the sin gift in front of the king and the people. They laid their hands on them. ²⁴ And the religious leaders killed them and gave a sin gift with their blood, to pay for the sins of all Israel. For the king said that the burnt gift and the sin gift should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ Then Hezekiah put the Levites in their places in the house of the Lord with timbrels and different kinds of harps. He did as David, Gad and Nathan, the men who spoke for God, had all said. For through these men the Lord said that this was to be done. ²⁶ The Levites stood with the objects for making music which David had made. And the religious leaders stood with the horns. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah told them to give the burnt gift on the altar. When the burnt gift began, the song to the Lord also began, with the horns and the objects for music made by David, king of Israel. ²⁸ While all the people worshiped, the singers sang and the horns sounded. The music went on until the burnt gift was finished.

²⁹ When the burnt gift was finished, the king and all who were with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰ King Hezekiah and the rulers told the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the man of God. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped. ³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have made yourselves holy to the Lord, come near and bring gifts for the altar and gifts of thanks to the house of the Lord.” And the people brought gifts for the altar and gifts of thanks. All those who were willing brought burnt gifts. ³² The number of the burnt gifts which the people brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt gift to the Lord. ³³ And the holy gifts were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. ³⁴ But there were not enough religious leaders to skin all the burnt gifts. So their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished, and until all the religious leaders had made themselves holy. For the Levites put more care into making themselves holy than the religious leaders. ³⁵ There were also many burnt gifts with the fat of the peace gifts. And there were the drink gifts for the burnt gifts. So the worship was returned to the house of the Lord. ³⁶ Then Hezekiah and all the people were filled with joy because of what God had done for the people, for it was done all at once.