Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he bopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, 5 and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! Now 2sanctify yourselves, csanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. 6 For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God; they have forsaken Him, have dturned their faces away from the 3dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on Him. 7 eThey have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the fwrath of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has ggiven them up to trouble, to desolation, and to hjeering, as you see with your ieyes. 9 For indeed, because of this jour fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity.

10 “Now it is in my heart to make ka covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has lchosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”

12 Then these Levites arose: mMahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the nKohathites; of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; 13 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 And they gathered their brethren, osanctified 4themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king, at the words of the Lord, pto cleanse the house of the Lord. 16 Then the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the debris that they found in the temple of the Lord to the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it out and carried it to the Brook qKidron.

17 Now they began to 5sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. So they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offerings with all its articles, and the table of the showbread with all its articles. 19 Moreover all the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had rcast aside in his transgression we have prepared and 6sanctified; and there they are, before the altar of the Lord.”