2 Chronicles 29–32

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

29Hezekiah ^abecame king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ¹Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. ²And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

³In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he ^bopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. ⁴Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, ⁵and 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. ⁶For 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. ^7eThey 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. ⁸Therefore 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. ⁹For 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. ¹¹My 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.”

¹²Then 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; ¹³of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵And 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. ¹⁶Then 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.

¹⁷Now 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.

¹⁸Then 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. ¹⁹Moreover 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.”

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

²⁰Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a ^ssin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²²So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and ^tsprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their ^uhands on them. ²⁴And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering ^vto make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.

^25wAnd he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, ^xaccording to the commandment of David, of ^yGad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; ^zfor thus was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. ²⁶The Levites stood with the instruments ^aof David, and the priests with ^bthe trumpets. ²⁷Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, ^cthe song of the Lord also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹And when they had finished offering, ^dthe king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped. ³⁰Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near, and bring sacrifices and ^ethank offerings into the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a ^fwilling heart brought burnt offerings. ³²And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings; therefore ^gtheir brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had ⁷sanctified themselves, ^hfor the Levites were ⁱmore diligent in ^jsanctifying themselves than the priests. ³⁵Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with ^kthe fat of the peace offerings and with ^lthe drink offerings for every burnt offering.

So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. ³⁶Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.

Hezekiah Keeps the Passover

30And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ²For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second ^amonth. ³For they could not keep it ^bat ¹the regular time, ^cbecause a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. ⁴And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. ⁵So they ²resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.

⁶Then the ^drunners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, ^ereturn to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of ^fthe kings of ^gAssyria. ⁷And do not be ^hlike your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, so that He ⁱgave them up to ^jdesolation, as you see. ⁸Now do not be ^kstiff-necked, ³as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, ^lthat the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. ⁹For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will be treated with ^mcompassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the Lord your God is ⁿgracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you ^oreturn to Him.”

¹⁰So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but ^pthey laughed at them and mocked them. ¹¹Nevertheless ^qsome from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹²Also ^rthe hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, ^sat the word of the Lord.

¹³Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of ^tUnleavened Bread in the second month. ¹⁴They arose and took away the ^ualtars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook ^vKidron. ¹⁵Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites ⁴were ^washamed, and ⁵sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. ¹⁶They stood in their ^xplace ⁶according to their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not ⁷sanctified themselves; ^ytherefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the Lord. ¹⁸For a multitude of the people, ^zmany from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, ^ayet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone ¹⁹who ^bprepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” ²⁰And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept ^cthe Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the…