Uzziah Reigns in Judah

26 And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. ² He built Eloth and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. ³ Uzziah was ^(A)sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ⁴ And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He set himself to seek God ^(B)in the days of Zechariah, ^(C)who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.

⁶ He went out and ^(D)made war against the Philistines and broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped him ^(E)against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the ^(F)Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites ^(G)paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong. ⁹ Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at ^(H)the Corner Gate and at ^(I)the Valley Gate and at ^(J)the Angle, and fortified them. ¹⁰ And he built towers in the wilderness and ^(K)cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. ¹¹ Moreover, Uzziah had an army of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders. ¹² The whole number of the heads of fathers' houses of mighty men of valor was 2,600. ¹³ Under their command was an army of ^(L)307,500, who could make war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴ And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, ^(M)coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

Uzziah's Pride and Punishment

¹⁶ But when ^(N)he was strong, ^(O)he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. ¹⁷ But ^(P)Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, ¹⁸ and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, ^(Q)“It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, ^(R)but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.” ¹⁹ Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, ^(S)leprosy^[a] broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. ²⁰ And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. ^21 (T)And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived ^(U)in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's household, governing the people of the land.

²² Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, ^(V)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz wrote. ²³ And Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son reigned in his place.

²³ About that time ^(A)there arose no little disturbance concerning ^(B)the Way. ²⁴ For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, ^(C)brought no little business to the craftsmen. ^25 (D)These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. ²⁶ And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, ^(E)saying that ^(F)gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the ^(G)great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸ When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, ^(H)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and ^(I)Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's ^(J)companions in travel. ³⁰ But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. ³¹ And even some of the Asiarchs,^[a] who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. ^32 (K)Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, ^(L)motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. ³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, ^(M)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from ^(N)the sky?^{[b] 36} Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷ For you have brought ^(O)these men here who are neither ^(P)sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸ If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are ^(Q)proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ But if you seek anything further,^[c] it shall be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰ For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

There Is None Who Does Good

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Mahalath. A Maskil^[a] of David.