*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.