Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Kings 15:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Azariah reigns while isolated with skin disease.”
Azariah reigns long, and then lives shut away
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Kings 15:1–7. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Kings 15:1–7
Read 2 Kings 15:5 with 15:1–7. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Azariah does right with high places remaining, is afflicted with a skin disease, lives separately, and leaves governance to Jotham until death.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Azariah reigns while isolated with skin disease,” 2 Kings 15:5 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 14:23–29 establishes this prior movement: Jeroboam II continues Jeroboam's sin yet restores borders according to Jonah's word because the LORD sees Israel's bitter affliction. 2 Kings 15:1–7 brings the preceding movement toward its narrated result or transition; that evidenced relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 2 Kings 15:1–7 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 15:1–7 forms one scene or regnal notice: Azariah does right with high places remaining, is afflicted with a skin disease, lives separately, and leaves governance to Jotham until death.
Verse 1. 1 In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.
Verse 2. 2 Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
Verse 3. 3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;
Verse 4. 4 Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.
Verse 5. 5 And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.
Verse 6. 6 And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Verse 7. 7 So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
Follow the Context
- Azariah does right with high places remaining, is afflicted with a skin disease, lives separately, and leaves governance to Jotham until death.
- The unit closes by establishing the result or tension named in “Azariah reigns while isolated with skin disease” before the next narrated movement.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Kings 15:5 does not permit the wording “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The disease does not prove moral inferiority, justify stigma or isolation beyond actual public-health needs, or let interpreters invent a sin not named here.
What Remains True
Faithful interpretation protects the dignity, agency, safety, grief, and material needs of people whom leadership-centered readings can overlook. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Azariah does right with high places remaining, is afflicted with a skin disease, lives separately, and leaves governance to Jotham until death. In 2 Kings 15:5, the concrete line “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death…” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
Teach It Back
In 70–220 words, explain 2 Kings 15:5's role in 15:1–7. Paraphrase “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 2 Kings 15:1–7 — Azariah reigns while isolated with skin diseaseSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Kings does not state why Azariah is afflicted; Chronicles supplies a different expanded explanation that must not be silently imported as this verse's explicit claim.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 15:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 15:1–7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 649–651, translation and translator notes for 15:1–7
Open source ↗