Chapter 26

¹ Then all the people of the land took Ozias, and he was sixteen years old, and they made him king in the room of his father Amasias. ² He built Ælath, he recovered it to Juda, after the king slept with his fathers.

³ Ozias began to reign at the age of sixteen years, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jechelia of Jerusalem. ⁴ And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amasias his father did. ⁵ And he sought the Lord in the days of Zacharias, who understood the fear of the Lord; and in his days he sought the Lord, and the Lord prospered him.

⁶ And he went out and fought against the Philistines, and pulled down the walls of Geth, and the walls of Jabner, and the walls of Azotus, and he built cities ¹near Azotus, and among the Philistines. ⁷ And the Lord strengthened him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt on the rock, and against the Minæans. ⁸ And the Minæans gave gifts to Ozias; and his fame spread as far as the entering in of Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly.

⁹ And Ozias built towers in Jerusalem, both at the gate of the corners, and at the valley gate, and at the corners and he fortified them. ¹⁰ And he built towers in the wilderness, and ²dug many wells, for he had many cattle in the low country and in the plain; and vinedressers in the mountain country and in Carmel: for he was a husbandman. ¹¹ And Ozias had ³a host of warriors, and that went out orderly to war, and returned orderly ⁴in number; and their number was made by the hand of Jeiel the scribe, and Maasias the judge, by the hand of Ananias the king's ⁵deputy. ¹² The whole number of the chiefs of families of the mighty men of war was two thousand six hundred; ¹³ and with them was a warrior force, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred: these waged war mightily to help the king against his enemies. ¹⁴ And Ozias prepared for them, even for all the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and breastplates, and bows, and slings for stones. ¹⁵ And he made in Jerusalem machines invented by a wise contriver, to be upon the towers and upon the

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corners, to cast darts and great stones: and the fame of their preparation was heard at a distance; for he was wonderfully helped, till he was strong.

¹⁶ And when he was strong, his heart was lifted up ⁶to his destruction; and he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to turn incense on the altar of ⁷incense. ¹⁷ And there went in after him Azarias the priest, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, mighty men. ¹⁸ And they withstood Ozias the king, and said to him, It is not for thee, Ozias, to burn incense to the Lord, but only for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to sacrifice: go forth of the sanctuary, for thou hast departed from the Lord; and this shall not be for glory to thee from the Lord god.

¹⁹ And Ozias was angry, and in his hand was the censer to burn incense in the temple: and when he was angry with the priests, then the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, over the altar of incense. ²⁰ And Azarias the chief priest, and the other priests, turned to look at him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead; and they got him hastily out thence, for he also hasted to go out, because the Lord had rebuked him. ²¹ And Ozias the king was a leper to the day of his death, and he dwelt as a leper in a ⁸separate house; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Joathan his son was set over his kingdom, judging the people of the land.

²² And the rest of the acts of Ozias, the first and the last, are written by Jessias the prophet. ²³ And Ozias slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial place of the kings, for they said, He is a leper; and Joatham his son reigned in his stead.