World English Bible
- In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.
- He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
- He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
- However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
- The LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household, judging the people of the land.
- Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
- Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Jotham his son reigned in his place.
- In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months.
- He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as his fathers had done. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.
- Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place.
- Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
- This was the LORD’s word which he spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” So it came to pass.
- Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned for a month in Samaria.
- Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, came to Samaria, struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, killed him, and reigned in his place.
- Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
- Then Menahem attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its border areas, from Tirzah. He attacked it because they didn’t open their gates to him, and he ripped up all their women who were with child.
- In the thirty ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel for ten years in Samaria.
- He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.
- Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
- Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and didn’t stay there in the land.
- Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.
- In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria for two years.
- He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.
- Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites. He killed him, and reigned in his place.
- Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
- In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.
- He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.
- In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
- Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
- Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
- In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign.
- He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.
- He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
- However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house.
- Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
- In those days, the LORD began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
- Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city; and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
2 Kings 15 – “When Thrones Tremble”
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12, New International Version
The fifteenth chapter of 2 Kings reads like a battlefield report: six monarchs of Israel, two of Judah, four assassinations, one crippling disease, and the first appearance of the Assyrian super-power on Israel’s horizon. The chronicler gives each reign only a few breaths—yet behind the brevity lie decades of political intrigue and spiritual drift.
The style is intentionally terse. Ancient Near-Eastern royal annals were normally long celebrations of a king’s greatness. The biblical historian reverses the custom; by listing reign after reign with the same refrain—“He did not remove the high places”—the writer turns the genealogy of power into a lament over lost faithfulness.
(verses 1-7; cf. 2 Chron 26)
• A long reign, a shortened reach
Azariah reigns 52 years, yet lives his final decades in isolation,
stricken with tsaraʿat (the Hebrew word broadly covering skin
diseases, including what later translations call leprosy).
Archaeologists have identified a 1st-century slab inscribed, “Here were
placed the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah—do not open,” a quiet
testimony that the man behind the text was real.
• Pride turned inward
Chronicles supplies the missing motive: “After Uzziah became
powerful, his pride led to his downfall.” (2 Chron 26:16, New
International Version). He arrogated priestly duties and God struck him.
Isaiah will date his own vision—Isaiah 6—“in the year that King Uzziah
died,” hinting that national hope seemed to expire with the leprous
king. Yet Isaiah saw the true King “high and exalted.” Our earthly
heroes may fail; the throne of heaven never falters.
Cross-references: Leviticus 13 (regarding tsaraʿat); Proverbs 16:18; 1 Peter 5:5-6.
(verses 8-31)
Israel’s northern kingdom unravels through a dizzying carousel of rulers:
The Hebrew writer punctuates each account: “He did evil… walked in the ways of Jeroboam.” The verb “walk” (halak) reminds us that sin is a path before it is a deed; every regime chose the same old road.
Verse 19 marks a turning point in biblical history. Assyria’s Pul (probably the throne-name of Tiglath-Pileser III) flexes across the Fertile Crescent. From here to the exile the prophets will measure Israel’s faith by her response to this looming empire. Amos and Hosea preach in these very years, urging repentance while doors are still open.
For modern readers Assyria can feel like footnote material, yet to the Israelites it was the sound of oncoming boots. Archaeology has unearthed the colossal lamassu statues at Nimrud, panels depicting armies storming walls, and prisoners led with fish-hooks—imagery echoed in 2 Kings 17: “I will put hooks in your jaws.” History and Scripture interlock.
Both Azariah and Jotham are graded “good,” yet verse 35 repeats the ache of earlier chapters: “The high places, however, were not removed.” These rural shrines probably blended Yahweh worship with Canaanite ritual—convenient, patriotic, and tragically compromised. Covenantal obedience always demands inconvenient choices.
Questions for reflection:
• Where have I kept a “high place”—a cherished compromise—because
dismantling it would be socially or emotionally costly?
• How are my private altars shaping my public witness?
Patristic voices:
• Jerome viewed Uzziah’s leprosy as “the mark of heresy spreading
through the body.”
• Augustine read the fall of Israel as a mercy that drove desire toward
a heavenly city.
• Calvin noted, “God often upholds a kingdom for the sake of a single
righteous man,” hinting at the unseen intercessors of the era.
Examen of Influence
List the “thrones” you occupy—parent, manager, mentor, friend. Ask,
“Where might my hidden pride limit God’s reach through me, as leprosy
confined Uzziah?”
Intercessory Map-Praying
Place a map (digital or paper) before God. Pray over modern
“Assyrias”—nations exerting pressure on believers. Hold front-line
churches before the throne that never shakes.
Psalm-Linked Lament
Read Psalm 12 aloud (“Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore…”). Let
the brief reigns of 2 Kings 15 teach you how fleeting human promises
are—and how durable God’s.
Suggested hymn: “God of Grace and God of Glory” (Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930). Its plea—“Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore”—mirrors Judah’s temptation to tolerate high places.
Sovereign Lord,
You sit above the circle of the earth while thrones below rise and
crumble.
Guard our hearts from the pride of Uzziah and the violence of
Menahem.
Teach us to tear down every private high place,
to walk in ways that honor Your name,
and to trust Your kingdom that cannot be shaken.
In the name of Jesus, the King eternal, we pray.
Amen.