Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 97
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C hronicles – E Z R A – N E H E M I A H
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of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.
Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the
Lord, all brave men. They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for
you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is the work of the priests
alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out
of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The Lord God will not honor you
for this!”
Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as
he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the
Lord’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. When Aza
riah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed
him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the Lord had
struck him. So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived
in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of
the Lord. His son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace, and he
governed the people of the land.
The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. When Uzziah died, he was
buried with his ancestors; his grave was in a nearby burial field belonging
to the kings, for the people said, “He had leprosy.” And his son Jotham
became the next king.
Jotham was t wenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
Jotham did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. He did everything
his father, Uzziah, had done, except that Jotham did not sin by entering
the Temple of the Lord. But the people continued in their corrupt ways.
Jotham rebuilt the upper gate of the Temple of the Lord. He also did
extensive rebuilding on the wall at the hill of Ophel. He built towns in the
hill country of Judah and constructed fortresses and towers in the wooded
areas. Jotham went to war against the Ammonites and conquered them.
Over the next three years he received from them an annual tribute of 7,500
pounds of silver, 50,000 bushels of wheat, and 50,000 bushels of barley.
King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the Lord his God.
The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including all his wars and other
activities, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. He was
twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
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