1Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly.
3He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.
4Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
5He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.
6So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.
7Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
8He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
Understand This
2 Chronicles 27, explained
What 2 Chronicles 27 is saying
Jotham succeeds Uzziah and becomes a quietly effective king—building the Upper Gate of the Temple, fortifying cities in the Judean hill country, and defeating the Ammonites who pay substantial tribute for three years. The Chronicler notes that 'he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord' and significantly adds: 'He did not enter the Temple of the Lord'—learning from his father's fatal mistake. Jotham 'grew mighty because he ordered his ways before the Lord.'
The background behind it
Jotham's brief sixteen-year reign (ca. 750-735 BC) occurred during the rising Assyrian threat under Tiglath-pileser III. The Chronicler's coverage is notably brief but entirely positive—one of the few kings with no recorded failure. The note about not entering the Temple is unique to Chronicles and deliberately echoes Uzziah's transgression.
Themes running underneath
Jotham represents the Chronicler's ideal of learning from the previous generation's mistakes. The key phrase 'he ordered his ways before the Lord' suggests disciplined, sustained faithfulness rather than dramatic acts. His strength came from consistent obedience rather than spectacular episodes.
Why it still matters
Jotham's quiet, steady faithfulness offers an alternative model of spiritual maturity—no dramatic failures, no spectacular miracles, just consistent, disciplined ordering of one's life before God. Not every faithful life makes headlines.
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.