2 Chronicles 29:5–15

⁵and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate^b yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. ⁶Our parents^c were unfaithful;^d they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. ⁷They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense^e or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror^f and scorn,^g as you can see with your own eyes. ⁹This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.^{h 10}Now I intend to make a covenantⁱ with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger^j will turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him,^k to minister^l before him and to burn incense.”

¹²Then these Levites^m set to work:

from the Kohathites,

Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah;

from the Merarites,

Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel;

from the Gershonites,

Joah son of Zimmah and Edenⁿ son of Joah;

¹³from the descendants of Elizaphan,^o

Shimri and Jeiel;

from the descendants of Asaph,^p

Zechariah and Mattaniah;

¹⁴from the descendants of Heman,

Jehiel and Shimei;

from the descendants of Jeduthun,

Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify^q the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord.