2 Chronicles 26–27; Isaiah 1–3

1All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

2Uzziah was the one who rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah rested with his fathers.

3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

4And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done.

5He sought God throughout the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.

6Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities near Ashdod and among the Philistines.

7God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs living in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites.

8The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, for he had become exceedingly powerful.

9Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the angle in the wall, and he fortified them.

10Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

11Uzziah had an army ready for battle that went out to war by assigned divisions, as recorded by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officers.

12The total number of family leaders of the mighty men of valor was 2,600.

13Under their authority was an army of 307,500 trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies.

14Uzziah supplied the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones.

15And in Jerusalem he made skillfully designed devices to shoot arrows and catapult large stones from the towers and corners. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was helped tremendously until he became powerful.

16But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

17Then Azariah the priest, along with eighty brave priests of the LORD, went in after him.

18They took their stand against King Uzziah and said, “Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to the LORD. Only the priests, the descendants of Aaron, are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully; you will not receive honor from the LORD God.”

19Uzziah, with a censer in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But while he raged against the priests in their presence in the house of the LORD before the altar of incense, leprosy broke out on his forehead.

20When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him and saw his leprous forehead, they rushed him out. Indeed, he himself hurried to get out, because the LORD had afflicted him.

21So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in isolation, leprous and cut off from the house of the LORD, while his son Jotham had charge of the royal palace and governed the people of the land.

22As for the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from beginning to end, they are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

23And Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field of burial that belonged to the kings, for the people said, “He was a leper.” And his son Jotham reigned in his place.

1Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.

2And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he did not enter the temple of the LORD. But the people still behaved corruptly.

3Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD, and he worked extensively on the wall at the hill of Ophel.

4He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.

5Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them, and that year they gave him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years.

6So Jotham grew powerful because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.

7As for the rest of the acts of Jotham, along with all his wars and his ways, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

8He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years.

9And Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And his son Ahaz reigned in his place.

1This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.

3The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

4Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.

5Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.

6From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

7Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you— a desolation demolished by strangers.

8And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.

9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.

10Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

11“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

12When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you— this trampling of My courts?

13Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations— I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.

14I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.

15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

16Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!

17Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

18“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.

20But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

21See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!

22Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.

23Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

24Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.

25I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.

26I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

27Zion will be redeemed with justice, her repentant ones with righteousness.

28But rebels and sinners will together be shattered, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

29Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.

30For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, like a garden without water.

31The strong man will become tinder and his work will be a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.

1This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.

5Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

6For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east; they are soothsayers like the Philistines; they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7Their land is full of silver and gold, with no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, with no limit to their chariots.

8Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.

9So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled— do not forgive them!

10Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty.

11The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

12For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted— it will be humbled—

13against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,

14against all the tall mountains, against all the high hills,

15against every high tower, against every fortified wall,

16against every ship of Tarshish, and against every stately vessel.

17So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

18and the idols will vanish completely.

19Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

20In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold— the idols they made to worship.

21They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

22Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

1For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,

2the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder,

3the commander of fifty and the dignitary, the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter.

4“I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them.”

5The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.

6A man will seize his brother within his father’s house: “You have a cloak—you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble.”

7On that day he will cry aloud: “I am not a healer. I have no food or clothing in my house. Do not make me leader of the people!”

8For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they spoke and acted against the LORD, defying His glorious presence.

9The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

11Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

12Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.

13The LORD arises to contend; He stands to judge the people.

14The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.

15Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

16The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty— walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

17the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”

18In that day the Lord will take away their finery: their anklets and headbands and crescents;

19their pendants, bracelets, and veils;

20their headdresses, ankle chains, and sashes; their perfume bottles and charms;

21their signet rings and nose rings;

22their festive robes, capes, cloaks, and purses;

23and their mirrors, linen garments, tiaras, and shawls.

24Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.

25Your men will fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle.

26And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.