2 Chronicles 29

29^*Hezekiah ^abegan to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of ^bZechariah. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ³He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, ^copened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. ⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, ⁵And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, ^dsanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. ⁶For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have ^eturned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and ^†turned their backs. ⁷Also they have ^fshut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. ⁸Wherefore the ^gwrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to ^†trouble, to astonishment, and to ^hhissing, as ye see with your eyes. ⁹For, lo, ⁱour fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰Now it is ^jin mine heart to make ^ka covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, ^||be not now negligent: for the Lord hath ^lchosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and ^||burn incense.

¹²Then the Levites arose, ^mMahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the ⁿKohathites: and of the sons of ⁿMerari, ^oKish the son of Abdi, and ^mAzariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the ⁿGershonites; ^pJoah the son of Zimmah, and ^mEden the son of Joah: ¹³And of the sons of ^qElizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of ^rAsaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah: ¹⁴And of the sons of ^sHeman; ^mJehiel, and ^mShimei: and of the sons of ^sJeduthun; ^mShemaiah, and Uzziel. ¹⁵And they gathered their brethren, and ^tsanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, ^||by the words of the Lord, ^uto cleanse the house of the Lord. ¹⁶And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the ^xbrook Kidron. ¹⁷Now they began on the first day of ^ythe first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord: so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. ¹⁸Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, ^uWe have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof. ¹⁹Moreover ^zall the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord. ²⁰Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹And they brought ^aseven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven ^ahe goats, for a ^bsin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²²So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and ^csprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. ²³And they brought ^†forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they ^dlaid their hands upon them: ²⁴And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, ^eto make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. ²⁵And ^fhe set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, ^gaccording to the commandment of David, and of ^hGad the king’s ⁱseer, and ^kNathan the prophet: for so was the commandment ^†of the Lord ^†by his prophets. ²⁶And the Levites stood with ^lthe instruments of David, and ^mthe priests with the trumpets. ²⁷And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And ^†when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with ^mthe trumpets, and with ^†the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. ²⁸And all the congregation worshipped, and the ^†singers sang, and ^mthe trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹And when they had made an end of offering, ⁿthe king and all that were ^†present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped. ³⁰Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the ⁱseer. And they sang praises with gladness, and ⁿthey bowed their heads and worshipped. ³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have ^||consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and ^othank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and ^othank offerings; and as many as were ^pof a free heart burnt offerings. ³²And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore ^qtheir brethren the Levites ^†did help them, till the work was ended, and ^runtil the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more ^supright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. ³⁵And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with ^tthe fat of the peace offerings, and ^uthe drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. ³⁶And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.