1 Jotham (= Yahaveh is upright) was twenty and five years old when he began to reign alone (he was 20 when his father smitten, and when he became co-regent. At his fathers death he was 25, and Ahaz was 5), and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did (i.e. to all the good, not the evil): however he entered not into the temple of the Lord (as his father had done [26:16]. Not like Ahaz [28:24]). And the people did yet corruptly.
3 He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of the Ophel he built much. (Or, lofty place or tower at the north end of the hill of Zion, between Zion and the Temple)
4 Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
5 He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the sons of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver (1 talent= 75 lbs.), and ten thousand measures of wheat (1 measure = 6 bushels), and ten thousand of barley. So much did the sons of Ammon pay to him, both the second year, and the third.
6 So Jotham strengthened himself, because he established his ways before the Lord his God.
7 Now 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.
8 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign (repeated here from v.1, to show that he continued his well-doing), and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9 And Jotham slept with his fathers (see Deut. 31:16), and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.