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Uzziah

A king of Judah, also called Azariah, who came to the throne at sixteen and reigned fifty-two years. He was militarily and economically successful — subduing the Philistines, rebuilding towns, digging cisterns, equipping the army with engines of war invented for shooting arrows and great stones. But when he was strong his heart was lifted up: he entered the temple to burn incense, a priestly act, and when eighty priests confronted him he grew angry, and leprosy broke out on his forehead. He lived apart until his death, his son governing in his place. Isaiah's vision came 'in the year that King Uzziah died'.

Role: King of Judah

Also known as: Azariah

Lived: c. 808 BC – c. 740 BC

Belonged to: Genealogy of Jesus, Kings of Judah, Tribe of Judah

Tribe/lineage: Judah

Born: Jerusalem

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1 Archaeology — physical evidence · 1

Life, role & deeds

BibleA long-reigning, prosperous king of Judah, struck with leprosy for presuming to burn incense.

2 Chronicles 26:16, 21

↳ Jerusalem

Death & legacy

אחיה פ. at Hebrew Wikipedia The original uploader was אחיה פ. at Hebrew Wikipedia. — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons) ArchaeologyAn Aramaic burial plaque — the 'Uzziah Tablet' — reads 'Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah king of Judah. Do not open.'

Aramaic funerary plaque in Herodian-period script (1st c. BC/AD, thus a secondary reburial notice), identified by E.L. Sukenik in the Russian convent collection on the Mount of Olives and published as 'An Epitaph of Uzziah, King of Judah', Tarbiz 2 (1931); now Israel Museum, Jerusalem (IAA/Israel Museum collection).

Where in scripture

2 Kings 2 Chronicles

In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.
2 Kings 15:1 — Reigns fifty-two years

Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in Yahweh’s house, beside the altar of incense.
2 Chronicles 26:19 — Struck with leprosy

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.

2 Kings 15:1 2 Chronicles 26:19

Family

In their own words — 2 recorded sayings

“And he came face to face with Asa and said to him, Give ear to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him; if your heart's desire is for him, he will be near you, but if you give him up, he will give you up. Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law; But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded. In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the…” — 2 Chronicles 15:2-7

“And said to them, You are not to let these prisoners come here; for what you are designing to do will be a cause of sin against the Lord to us, making even greater our sin and our wrongdoing, which now are great enough, and his wrath is burning against Israel.” — 2 Chronicles 28:13

Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).