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. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, copened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. 4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, 5 And 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. 6 For 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. 7 Also 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. 8 Wherefore 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. 9 For, lo, iour fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now it is jin mine heart to make ka covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11 My 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.

12 Then 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: 13 And of the sons of qElizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of rAsaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah: 14 And of the sons of sHeman; mJehiel, and mShimei: and of the sons of sJeduthun; mShemaiah, and Uzziel. 15 And 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. 16 And 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. 17 Now 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. 18 Then 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. 19 Moreover 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.

20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. 21 And 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. 22 So 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. 23 And they brought †forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they dlaid their hands upon them: 24 And 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. 25 And 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. 26 And the Levites stood with lthe instruments of David, and mthe priests with the trumpets. 27 And 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. 28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the †singers sang, and mthe trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 And when they had made an end of offering, nthe king and all that were †present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped. 30 Moreover 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. 31 Then 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. 32 And 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. 33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. 34 But 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. 35 And 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. 36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

30 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the asecond month. 3 For they could not keep it bat that time, cbecause the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. 4 And the thing †pleased the king and all the congregation. 5 So they established a decree to dmake proclamation throughout all Israel, efrom Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. 6 So fthe posts went with the letters †from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, gturn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of hthe kings of Assyria. 7 And ibe not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore kgave them up to desolation, as ye see. 8 Now †be ye not lstiffnecked, as your fathers were, but †yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, mthat the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. 9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find ncompassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is ogracious and pmerciful, and will not turn away his face from you, qif ye return unto him. 10 So fthe posts passed from city to city through the country of rEphraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and smocked them. 11 Nevertheless divers of tAsher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, uby the word of the Lord.

13 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the wsecond month, a very great congregation. 14 And they arose and took away the xaltars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and ycast them into the brook Kidron. 15 Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the wsecond month: and the priests and the Levites zwere ashamed, and asanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. 16 And they stood in †their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses bthe man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord. 18 For a multitude of the people, even cmany of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than dit was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one 19 That eprepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed …