8. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame reached the border of Egypt, for he grew in power.
9. Uzziah built and fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, Valley Gate, and at the Angle.
10. He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, for he loved agriculture.
11. Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official.
12. The total number of family leaders who led warriors was 2,600.
13. They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend the king against his enemies.
14. Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slingstones for the entire army.
15. In 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.
16. But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He disobeyed the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar.
17. Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests of the Lord followed him in.
18. They confronted 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 disobeyed and the Lord God will not honor you!”
19. Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was ranting and raving at the priests, a skin disease appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the Lord’s temple near the incense altar.
20. When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there; even the king himself wanted to leave quickly because the Lord had afflicted him.