Azariah
The name Azariah belongs to many men in scripture — kings, high priests, prophets, captains, Levites, scribes, and exiles. Several share the name with cousins or contemporaries; several are also recorded under a different name (Uzziah, Ahaziah, Abed-nego, Seraiah, Amariah). The verses below sort the bearers, person by person, by the wording UPDV preserves.
Sons of Ethan and of Jehu
Two early Azariahs appear in the Judahite genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2. The first stands at the head of Ethan's line: "And the sons of Ethan: Azariah" (1Ch 2:8). The second is reckoned through Jehu's house: "and Obed begot Jehu, and Jehu begot Azariah, and Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah" (1Ch 2:38-39).
Solomon's officers
In the roster of officials around Solomon, two men named Azariah hold administrative posts. Azariah the son of Zadok is listed among the princes as "the priest" (1Ki 4:2), and Azariah the son of Nathan stands "over the officers" (1Ki 4:5).
The prophet who met Asa
A prophetic Azariah, son of Oded, addresses king Asa in the chronicler's record: "And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear⁺ me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Yahweh is with you⁺, while you⁺ are with him; and if you⁺ seek him, he will be found of you⁺; but if you⁺ forsake him, he will forsake you⁺" (2Ch 15:1). Asa hears the message — credited at 2Ch 15:8 to "Oded the prophet" — and responds: "he took courage, and put away the detestable things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh, that was before the porch of Yahweh" (2Ch 15:8).
The high-priestly line through Ahimaaz
A long priestly genealogy threads several Azariahs across the generations. The earliest is the Azariah of Ahimaaz's line, in whose generation a second Azariah serves in Solomon's temple: "and Ahimaaz begot Azariah, and Azariah begot Johanan, and Johanan begot Azariah (it is he who executed the priest's office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem)" (1Ch 6:9-10). The line continues, "and Azariah begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub" (1Ch 6:11) — and the Amariah named here is identified with the Amariah Jehoshaphat sets over the priestly courts: "And, look, Amariah the chief priest is over you⁺ in all matters of Yahweh; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the leader of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters: also the Levites will be officers before you⁺. Deal courageously, and Yahweh will be with the good" (2Ch 19:11).
The son of Jehoshaphat
Among Jehoshaphat's sons, two are named Azariah: "And he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel" (2Ch 21:2).
The king of Judah called Ahaziah
The Chronicler twice calls Jehoshaphat's grandson by Jehoram by the name Azariah. After the wounding of Jehoram of Israel, "Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick" (2Ch 22:6) — the king known elsewhere as Ahaziah. The wider record of his reign appears under that other name: he was the twenty-year-old son of Athaliah daughter of Omri (2Ch 22:2), who reigned one year in Jerusalem before Jehu caught him hiding in Samaria and killed him "for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh" (2Ch 22:9). Earlier, Ahaziah's accession in Judah is dated to "the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel" (2Ki 8:25), and his death is bound up with Jehu's chariot ride to Jezreel and the watchman's sighting of "the company of Jehu" (2Ki 9:16-27). The northern Ahaziah (Ahab's son, who fell through the lattice) is a different king altogether: he reigned after Ahab (1Ki 22:40), walked in the way of his father and Jeroboam (1Ki 22:52), joined Jehoshaphat in business "and the same did very wickedly" (2Ch 20:35), fell sick after the lattice fall and sent to Baal-zebub of Ekron (2Ki 1:2), and "died according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had spoken" (2Ki 1:17).
Jehoiada's captains
When Jehoiada the priest moves to restore the Davidic king, two of his captains of hundreds are named Azariah. "And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him" (2Ch 23:1). The compact with the king's son follows: "And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Look, the king's son will reign, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David" (2Ch 23:3).
Azariah son of Johanan and the stoning of Zechariah
The Azariah of 1Ch 6:9-10's middle generation is linked with the Zechariah son of Jehoiada whom Joash had killed. The chronicler's narrative of that death runs: "And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, Thus says God, Why do you⁺ transgress the commandments of Yahweh, so that you⁺ can't prosper? Because you⁺ have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you⁺. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh. Thus Joash the king didn't remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Yahweh look at it, and require it" (2Ch 24:20-22).
The king of Judah called Uzziah
The longest-reigning Azariah in the catalogue is the king of Judah whom Kings calls Azariah and Chronicles calls Uzziah. Both books open with the same formula: "And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah" (2Ki 14:21); "And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah" (2Ch 26:1). Kings dates the start of his reign and gives the length: "In the twenty and 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 two and fifty years in Jerusalem" (2Ki 15:1-7). His pride at the altar of incense is decisive: "Then Uzziah was angry; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of Yahweh, beside the altar of incense" (2Ch 26:19). His death is recorded the same way: "So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead" (2Ch 26:23).
His reign is the chronological peg of the eighth-century prophets. Amos opens "in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake" (Am 1:1); Hosea opens "in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel" (Ho 1:1); Isaiah's throne vision dates to "the year that King Uzziah died" (Is 6:1); and Zechariah recalls the tremor of his lifetime — "yes, you⁺ will flee, like you⁺ fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah" (Zec 14:5).
Chief of Ephraim under Pekah
When the captive women and children from Judah return after Pekah's raid, an Azariah heads the Ephraimite intercession: "Then certain of the heads of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came from the war" (2Ch 28:12).
A Levite of Heman's line
A Levite Azariah appears in the Kohathite genealogy of the temple singers: "the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah" (1Ch 6:36). The same man stands earlier in the same line under the name Uzziah: "Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son" (1Ch 6:24).
Azariah the high priest under Hezekiah
In Hezekiah's reform, an Azariah of Zadok's house is the chief priest who reports the tithe-storage abundance to the king: "And Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, Since [the people] began to bring the oblations into the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and had enough, and have plenty left: for Yahweh has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store" (2Ch 31:10). The administrative roster fills out the picture: "And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the leader of the house of God" (2Ch 31:13). The cross-reference at "Ahitub" appears in the high-priestly genealogy — "and Azariah begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub" (1Ch 6:11), "and Ahitub begot Zadok, and Zadok begot Shallum" (1Ch 6:12).
Azariah son of Hilkiah and Ezra's pedigree
A later high-priestly Azariah is the son of Hilkiah at the close of the monarchy: "and Shallum begot Hilkiah, and Hilkiah begot Azariah, and Azariah begot Seraiah, and Seraiah begot Jehozadak" (1Ch 6:13-14). The same man heads the post-exilic priestly resettlement list — "and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the leader of the house of God" (1Ch 9:11). Ezra's own pedigree threads up through this Azariah and an earlier Azariah son of Meraioth: "Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth" (Ezr 7:1-3).
Azariah son of Hoshaiah at Tahpanhes
After the fall of Jerusalem, an Azariah son of Hoshaiah leads the proud men who reject Jeremiah's word: "then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely: Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, You⁺ will not go into Egypt to sojourn there; but Baruch the son of Neriah sets you on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon. So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn't obey [the Speech of] Yahweh, to dwell in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah; the [able-bodied] men, and the women, and the children, and the king's daughters, and every soul who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah; and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn't obey [the Speech of] Yahweh: and they came to Tahpanhes" (Jer 43:2-7).
Azariah renamed Abed-nego
Among the Babylonian-court captives, the Azariah of Daniel's circle is given a new name: "And the prince of the eunuchs gave names to them: to Daniel he gave [the name of] Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, [of] Shadrach; and to Mishael, [of] Meshach; and to Azariah, [of] Abed-nego" (Da 1:7). At the end of the training period he stands before the king with his colleagues: "And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king" (Da 1:19). The Hebrew name still surfaces in Daniel's appeal for prayer over the king's dream: "Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his colleagues" (Da 2:17). The Babylonian name then carries the rest of the narrative — the appointment over the province (Da 2:49), the accusation that "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these [prominent] men, O king, have not regarded you" (Da 3:12), the binding into "the midst of the burning fiery furnace" (Da 3:23), and the king's promotion of the three afterward (Da 3:30).
A returned exile, also called Seraiah
In the post-exilic registers an Azariah is named among those who returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua: "who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah" (Ne 7:7). The same Azariah (or one of his name) seals Nehemiah's covenant: "Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah" (Ne 10:2). The parallel list in Ezra calls the leader Seraiah: "who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah" (Ezr 2:2).