5. He was prepared to seek God as long as Zechariah lived, who taught him to fear God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
6. He went out and fought the Philistines and razed the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and built cities in the district of Ashdod and in Philistia.
7. God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who dwelt in Gurbaal, and against the Meunites.
8. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame spread as far as Egypt, for he grew stronger and stronger.
9. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and he fortified them.
10. He built towers in the wilderness and dug numerous cisterns, for he had many cattle. He had plowmen in the Shephelah and the plains, farmers and vinedressers in the highlands and the garden land. He was a lover of the soil.
11. Uzziah also had a standing army of fit soldiers divided into bands according to the number in which they were mustered by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the recorder, under the command of Hananiah, one of the king’s officials.
12. The entire number of family heads over these valiant warriors was two thousand six hundred,
13. and at their disposal was a mighty army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred fighting men of great valor to help the king against his enemies.
14. Uzziah provided for them—for the entire army—bucklers, lances, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slingstones.
15. He also built machines in Jerusalem, devices designed to stand on the towers and at the angles of the walls to shoot arrows and cast large stones. His name spread far and wide; the help he received was wondrous, so strong did he become.
16. But after he had become strong, he became arrogant to his own destruction and acted treacherously with the Lord, his God. He entered the temple of the Lord to make an offering on the altar of incense.