2 Chronicles 29–32

¹Hezekiah hath reigned—a son of twenty and five years, and twenty and nine years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother is Abijah daughter of Zechariah; ²and he doth that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father did. ³He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, hath opened the doors of the house of Jehovah, and strengtheneth them, ⁴and bringeth in the priests and the Levites, and gathereth them to the broad place to the east. ⁵And he saith to them, ‘Hear me, O Levites, now, sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, God of your fathers, and bring out the impurity from the sanctuary, ⁶for our fathers have trespassed, and done that which is evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and forsake him, and turn round their faces from the tabernacle of Jehovah, and give the neck.

⁷‘Also—they have shut the doors of the porch, and quench the lamps, and perfume they have not made, and burnt-offering have not caused to ascend in the sanctuary to the God of Israel, ⁸and the wrath of Jehovah is on Judah and Jerusalem, and He giveth them for a trembling, for an astonishment, and for a hissing, as ye are seeing with your eyes. ⁹And lo, fallen have our fathers by the sword, and our sons, and our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this.

¹⁰‘Now—with my heart—to make a covenant before Jehovah, God of Israel, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from us. ¹¹My sons, be not now at rest, for on you hath Jehovah fixed to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be to Him ministering and making perfume.’

¹²And the Levites rise—Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathite; and of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehalelel; and of the Gershonite: Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah; ¹³and of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri, and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴and of the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel— ¹⁵and they gather their brethren, and sanctify themselves, and come in, according to the command of the king in the matters of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah, ¹⁶and the priests come in to the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it, and bring out all the uncleanness that they have found in the temple of Jehovah to the court of the house of Jehovah, and the Levites receive it, to take it out to the brook Kidron without. ¹⁷And they begin on the first of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they have come to the porch of Jehovah, and they sanctify the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they have finished. ¹⁸And they come in within unto Hezekiah the king, and say, ‘We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and the table of the arrangement, and all its vessels, ¹⁹and all the vessels that king Ahaz cast away in his reign—in his trespass—we have prepared and sanctified, and lo, they are before the altar of Jehovah.’

²⁰And Hezekiah the king riseth early, and gathereth the heads of the city, and goeth up to the house of Jehovah; ²¹and they bring in seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven young he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah; and he saith to sons of Aaron, the priests, to cause them to ascend on the altar of Jehovah. ²²And they slaughter the oxen, and the priests receive the blood, and sprinkle on the altar; and they slaughter the rams, and sprinkle the blood on the altar; and they slaughter the lambs, and sprinkle the blood on the altar; ²³and they bring nigh the he-goats of the sin-offering before the king and the assembly, and they lay their hands upon them; ²⁴and the priests slaughter them, and make a sin-offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel, for ‘For all Israel,’ said the king, ‘is the burnt-offering and the sin-offering.’ ²⁵And he appointeth the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, by the command of David, and of Gad, seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet, for by the hand of Jehovah is the command, by the hand of His prophets; ²⁶and the Levites stand with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷And Hezekiah saith to cause the burnt-offering to ascend on the altar; and at the time the burnt-offering began—began the song of Jehovah, and the trumpets, even by the hands of the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸And all the assembly are doing obeisance, and the singers singing, and the trumpeters blowing; the whole is till the completion of the burnt-offering. ²⁹And at the completion of the offering up bowed have the king and all those found with him, and do obeisance. ³⁰And Hezekiah the king saith, and the princes, to the Levites to give praise to Jehovah in the words of David, and of Asaph the seer, and they praise—unto joy, and they bow, and do obeisance. ³¹And Hezekiah answereth and saith, ‘Now ye have filled your hand to Jehovah, come nigh, and bring in sacrifices and thank-offerings to the house of Jehovah;’ and the assembly bring in sacrifices and thank-offerings, and every willing-hearted one—burnt-offerings. ³²And the number of the burnt-offerings that the assembly have brought in, is seventy oxen, a hundred rams, lambs two hundred; for a burnt-offering to Jehovah are all these. ³³And the sanctified things are oxen six hundred, and sheep three thousand. ³⁴Only, the priests have become few, and have not been able to strip the whole of the burnt-offerings, and their brethren the Levites strengthen them till the completion of the work, and till the priests sanctify themselves, for the Levites are more upright of heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. ³⁵And also, burnt-offerings are in abundance, with fat of the peace-offerings, and with oblations for the burnt-offering; and the service of the house of Jehovah is established, ³⁶and rejoice doth Hezekiah and all the people, because of God’s giving preparation to the people, for the thing hath been suddenly.

Chapter 30

¹And Hezekiah sendeth unto all Israel and Judah, and also letters he hath written unto Ephraim and Manasseh, to come in to the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, to make a passover to Jehovah, God of Israel. ²And the king taketh counsel, and his heads, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to make the passover in the second month, ³for they have not been able to make it at that time, for the priests have not sanctified themselves sufficiently, and the people have not been gathered to Jerusalem. ⁴And the thing is right in the eyes of the king, and in the eyes of all the assembly, ⁵and they establish the thing, to cause to pass over an intimation into all Israel, from Beer-Sheba even unto Dan, to come in to make a passover to Jehovah, God of Israel, in Jerusalem, for not for a long time had they done as it is written. ⁶And the runners go with letters from the hand of the king and his heads, into all Israel and Judah, even according to the command of the king, saying, ‘O sons of Israel, turn back unto Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He doth turn back unto the escaped part that is left of you from the hand of the kings of Asshur; ⁷and do not be like your fathers, and like your brethren, who trespassed against Jehovah, God of their fathers, and He giveth them to desolation, as ye do see.

⁸‘Now, harden not your neck like your fathers, give a hand to Jehovah, and come in to His sanctuary, that He hath sanctified to the age, and serve Jehovah your God, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from you; ⁹for in your turning back unto Jehovah, your brethren and your sons have mercies before their captors, even to return to this land, for gracious and merciful is Jehovah your God, and He doth not turn aside the face from you, if ye turn back unto Him.’ ¹⁰And the runners are passing over from city to city, in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: and they are laughing at them, and mocking at them, ¹¹only, certain from Asher, and Manasseh, and from Zebulun, have been humbled, and come in to Jerusalem. ¹²Also, in Judah hath the hand of God been to give to them one heart to do the command of the king and of the heads, in the matter of Jehovah.

¹³And much people are gathered to Jerusalem, to make the feast of unleavened things in the second month—a mighty assembly for multitude. ¹⁴And they arise and turn aside the altars that are in Jerusalem, and all the perfume altars they have turned aside, and cast them to the brook Kidron; ¹⁵and they slaughter the passover-offering on the fourteenth of the second month, and the priests and the Levites have been ashamed, and sanctify themselves, and bring in burnt-offerings to the house of Jehovah. ¹⁶And they stand on their station according to their ordinance; according to the law of Moses the man of God the priests are sprinkling the blood out of the hand of the Levites, ¹⁷for many are in the assembly who have not sanctified themselves, and the Levites are over the slaughtering of the passover-offerings for every one not clean, to sanctify him to Jehovah: ¹⁸for a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, have not been cleansed, but have eaten the passover otherwise than it is written; but Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, ‘Jehovah, who is good, doth receive atonement for every one ¹⁹who hath prepared his heart to seek God—Jehovah, God of his fathers—yet not according to the cleansing of the sanctuary;’ ²⁰and Jehovah hearkeneth unto Hezekiah, and healeth the people.

²¹And the sons of Israel, those found in Jerusalem, make the feast of unleavened things seven days with great joy; and giving praise to Jehovah day by day are the Levites and the priests, with instruments of praise before Jehovah. ²²And Hezekiah speaketh unto the heart of all the…