⁵He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and carry out the filth from the holy place.^* ⁶For our ancestors have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God; they have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling of the Lord and turned their backs.^* ⁷They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not offered incense or made burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.^* ⁹Our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.^* ¹⁰Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us.^* ¹¹My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence to minister to him and to be his ministers and offer incense.”^*

¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;^* ¹³and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in as the king had commanded, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.^*

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Cross references

*vv 15, 34; 2 Chr 35:6
*Jer 2:27; Ezek 8:16
*Deut 28:25; 2 Chr 24:18; 28:5; Jer 25:9, 18
*2 Chr 28:5–8, 17
*2 Chr 15:12; 23:16
*Num 3:6; 8:14
*Num 3:19, 20; 2 Chr 31:13
*v 5; 1 Chr 23:28; 2 Chr 30:12