II Chronicles 29

1. Hezekiah began to reign being twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah.

2. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.

3. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.

4. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them into the east street.

5. And he said to them, “Hear me, Levites now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers and carry the filthiness out of the holy place!

6. For our fathers have sinned and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the LORD, and have turned their backs.

7. Also, they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.

8. Therefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing as you see with your eyes.

9. For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

10. And it is in my heart to make a 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 chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”

12. Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites. And of the sons of Merari arose Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel. And of the Gershonites: Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah.

13. And of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel. And of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah.

14. And of the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei. And of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15. And they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

16. And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it. And they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it out to the brook Kidron.

17. Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month. And on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the LORD. And they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

18. And they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and the showbread table, and all its vessels.

19. And we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign cast away in his sin. And behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.”

20. And Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of the LORD.

21. And they brought seven bulls and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of the LORD.

22. And they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it upon the altar. And they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood upon the altar. They also killed the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

23. And they brought out the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation. And they laid their hands on them.

24. And the priest killed them, and they made atonement with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded the burnt offering and the sin offering to be made for all Israel.

25. And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with harps, and with lyres, according to the command of David, and of Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was by the hand of the LORD by His prophets.

26. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the silver trumpets.

27. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began with the silver trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.

28. And all the congregation worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this went on until the burnt offering was finished.

29. And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped.

30. Then Hezekiah the king and the rulers commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

31. And Hezekiah answered and said, “And you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD.” And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings. And as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.

32. And the number of the burnt offerings which the congregation brought was seventy oxen, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

33. And the things consecrated were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

34. But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. And their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves, for the Levites were more upright of heart to make themselves pure than the priests.

35. And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. And the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.

36. Then Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people, for the thing happened suddenly.