Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 26:21
So 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The chronicler addresses his readers immediately after the priests forcibly expel King Uzziah from the temple due to his divine affliction. The account marks the transition from Uzziah’s active reign to a period of permanent ceremonial isolation and delegated rule.
The words — The Hebrew מְצֹרָע (me.tzo.Ra') denotes a contagious skin disease requiring ritual separation, while עַד (‘ad-) establishes the permanence of this condition until his death. The verb וַ/יֵּ֜שֶׁב (va/i.Ye.shev) literally means he dwelt or remained in that state.
The thread — This enforced isolation directly fulfills the Mosaic command in Leviticus 13:46 for the afflicted to live alone outside the camp. The narrative parallels Numbers 5:2 and Numbers 12:15, where ritual impurity necessitates exclusion from the community and sacred space.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that religious defilement permanently alters political authority, transferring governance to Jotham. It establishes that divine judgment enforces ceremonial boundaries regardless of royal status.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 13:46 As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
- Numbers 5:2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
- Numbers 12:15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought in again.
- 2 Kings 7:3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?
- 2 Kings 15:5 And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.