2 Crônicas 26

ARC · Chapter 26/36

1Então todo o povo tomou a Uzias, que era da edade de dezeseis annos, e o fizeram rei em logar de seu pae Amasias.

2Este edificou a Elod, e a restituiu a Judah, depois que o rei adormeceu com seus paes.

3Era Uzias da edade de dezeseis annos quando começou a reinar, e cincoenta e cinco annos reinou em Jerusalem: e era o nome de sua mãe Jecholia, de Jerusalem.

4E fez o que era recto aos olhos do Senhor; conforme a tudo o que fizera Amasias seu pae.

5Porque deu-se a buscar a Deus nos dias de Zacharias, entendido nas visões de Deus: e nos dias em que buscou ao Senhor Deus o fez prosperar.

6Porque saiu, e guerreou contra os philisteos, e quebrou o muro de Gath, e o muro de Jabne, e o muro d'Asdod: e edificou cidades em Asdod, e entre os philisteos.

7E Deus o ajudou contra os philisteos e contra os arabios que habitavam em Gur-baal, e contra os meunitas.

8E os ammonitas deram presentes a Uzias: e o seu renome foi espalhado até á entrada do Egypto, porque se fortificou altamente.

9Tambem Uzias edificou torres em Jerusalem, á porta da esquina, e á porta do valle, e aos angulos, e as fortificou.

10Tambem edificou torres no deserto, e cavou muitos poços; porque tinha muito gado, tanto nos valles como nas campinas; lavradores e vinhateiros, nos montes e nos campos ferteis; porque era amigo da agricultura.

11Tinha tambem Uzias um exercito d'homens destros na guerra, que sahiam ao exercito em tropas, segundo o numero da sua mostra, por mão de Jeiel, chanceler, e Maaseias, official, debaixo da mão d'Hananias, um dos principes do rei.

12Todo o numero dos chefes dos paes, varões valentes, era de dois mil e seiscentos.

13E debaixo das suas ordens havia um exercito guerreiro de trezentos e sete mil e quinhentos homens, que faziam a guerra com força bellicosa, para ajudar o rei contra os inimigos.

14E preparou-lhes Uzias, para todo o exercito, escudos, e lanças, e capacetes, e couraças e arcos; e até fundas para atirar pedras.

15Tambem fez em Jerusalem machinas da invenção d'engenheiros, que estivessem nas torres e nos cantos, para atirarem frechas e grandes pedras: e voou a sua fama até muito longe; porque foi maravilhosamente ajudado, até que se fortificou.

16Mas, havendo-se já fortificado, exaltou-se o seu coração até se corromper: e transgrediu contra o Senhor, seu Deus, porque entrou no templo do Senhor para queimar incenso no altar do incenso.

17Porém o sacerdote Azarias entrou após elle, e com elle oitenta sacerdotes do Senhor, varões valentes.

18E resistiram ao rei Uzias, e lhe disseram: A ti, Uzias, não compete queimar incenso perante o Senhor, mas aos sacerdotes, filhos d'Aarão, que são consagrados para queimar incenso; sae do sanctuario, porque transgrediste; e não será isto para honra tua da parte do Senhor Deus

19Então Uzias se indignou: e tinha o incensario na sua mão para queimar incenso: indignando-se elle pois contra os sacerdotes, a lepra lhe saiu á testa perante os sacerdotes, na casa do Senhor, junto ao altar do incenso;

20Então o summo sacerdote Azarias olhou para elle, como tambem todos os sacerdotes, e eis que já estava leproso na sua testa, e apressuradamente o lançaram fóra: e até elle mesmo se deu pressa a sair, visto que o Senhor o ferira.

21Assim ficou leproso o rei Uzias até ao dia da sua morte: e morou, por ser leproso, n'uma casa separada, porque foi excluido da casa do Senhor: e Jothão, seu filho, tinha o cargo da casa do rei, julgando o povo da terra.

22Quanto ao mais dos successos d'Uzias, tanto os primeiros como os derradeiros, o propheta Isaias, filho d'Amós, o escreveu.

23E dormiu Uzias com seus paes, e o sepultaram com seus paes no campo do sepulchro que era dos reis; porque disseram: Leproso é. E Jothão, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Uzziah becomes king while still young and reigns for 52 years with great military, agricultural, and building success, seeking God faithfully for much of his reign. However, in his pride, he enters the temple to burn incense, a function reserved only for priests, and is immediately struck with leprosy, remaining isolated until his death.

Explanation

Uzziah represents one of the longest and, initially, most successful reigns of Judah, marked by military conquests, agricultural innovations, and even the development of war machines advanced for his time. However, his success feeds a dangerous pride: he decides, without authorization, to perform a priestly function reserved exclusively for the descendants of Aaron, ignoring the limits God had set even for powerful kings. His immediate punishment with leprosy, a disease that would isolate him physically for the rest of his life, is a severe reminder that even successful and generally faithful leaders are not exempt from serious consequences when they cross boundaries clearly established by God.

Fun facts

  • The prophet Isaiah, whose prophetic book opens precisely 'in the year that king Uzziah died' (Isaiah 6:1), lived through much of this king's reign, and his majestic vision of God in the temple may have been, in part, a response to the leadership crisis caused by Uzziah's isolating disease.
  • Uzziah's military innovations, including machines for shooting arrows and great stones from the towers of Jerusalem, are described as inventions of 'skillful men,' one of the first explicit biblical records of advanced, specialized military technology.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 26:1After Amaziah’s violent death, all the people choose Uzziah, only sixteen years old, to take the throne in his father’s place.
  2. 2 Crônicas 26:2Uzziah rebuilds the port city of Eloth and restores it to Judah’s control, after his father’s death.
  3. 2 Crônicas 26:3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he governed fifty-five years in Jerusalem — one of the longest reigns in the book; his mother’s name was Jecoliah, of Jerusalem.
  4. 2 Crônicas 26:4The Chronicler praises Uzziah, saying he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, following the example of his father Amaziah.
  5. 2 Crônicas 26:5Uzziah seeks God throughout the days he has the guidance of Zechariah, a man well versed in the things of God, and he prospers as long as he keeps up that pursuit.
  6. 2 Crônicas 26:6Uzziah wages war against the Philistines, tears down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and builds cities of his own in the midst of Philistine territory.
  7. 2 Crônicas 26:7God helps Uzziah both against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal and against the Meunites.
  8. 2 Crônicas 26:8Even the Ammonites come to pay tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spreads as far as the border of Egypt, so strong had his kingdom become.
  9. 2 Crônicas 26:9Uzziah builds fortified towers in Jerusalem, at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the angle of the wall.
  10. 2 Crônicas 26:10He also builds towers in the wilderness and digs many wells, because he owned a great deal of livestock; he was a man who loved farming, with plowmen and vinedressers working the fertile land.
  11. 2 Crônicas 26:11Uzziah maintains an organized army of experienced soldiers, arranged in companies under officers such as Jeiel and Maaseiah, under the authority of the official Hananiah.
  12. 2 Crônicas 26:12The total number of family heads leading these valiant warriors came to two thousand six hundred men.
  13. 2 Crônicas 26:13Under the command of these leaders was an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred soldiers, trained to fight with great power to help the king against his enemies.
  14. 2 Crônicas 26:14Uzziah equips this entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and even slings for throwing stones.
  15. 2 Crônicas 26:15Uzziah has “engines, invented by cunning men,” built on the towers of Jerusalem to shoot arrows and large stones — one of the earliest recorded descriptions of this kind of military technology, almost like a primitive catapult.
  16. 2 Crônicas 26:16After years of success, Uzziah decides he has the right to burn incense in person inside the temple, a role reserved only for priests. The pride behind this overreach — a king wanting to do a priest’s job — is what leads to the leprosy that isolates him for the rest of his life.
  17. 2 Crônicas 26:17When Uzziah enters the temple to burn incense, the priest Azariah follows him in, along with eighty other courageous priests.
  18. 2 Crônicas 26:18The priests confront Uzziah directly: burning incense belongs exclusively to the descendants of Aaron, not to the king, and they ask him to leave the sanctuary.
  19. 2 Crônicas 26:19Uzziah becomes furious at the rebuke, and right there, censer in hand, leprosy breaks out on his forehead in front of the priests themselves, beside the altar of incense.
  20. 2 Crônicas 26:20Seeing the leprosy on the king’s forehead, the priests hurry him out of the temple, and Uzziah himself, realizing that the Lord had struck him, hurries out as well.
  21. 2 Crônicas 26:21Uzziah remains a leper until the day he dies, living isolated in a separate house and excluded from the temple; his son Jotham takes over the administration of the kingdom and begins judging the people.
  22. 2 Crônicas 26:22The rest of Uzziah’s story was recorded by the prophet Isaiah himself, son of Amoz — a direct reference to a well-known prophetic source.
  23. 2 Crônicas 26:23Uzziah dies and is buried in a field near the royal tombs, but not inside them, because of his leprosy; his son Jotham reigns in his place.

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