2 Chronicles 29

¹Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah.

²And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord

³In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord

⁴Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square,

⁵and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord

⁶For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord

⁷They 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 wrath of the Lord

⁹For indeed, because of this our 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 a covenant with the Lord

¹¹My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord

¹²Then these Levites arose: Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; 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, sanctified themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king, at the words of the Lord

¹⁶Then the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord

¹⁷Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord

¹⁸Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord

¹⁹Moreover all the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had cast aside in his transgression we have prepared and sanctified; and there they are, before the altar of the Lord

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 sin 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 sprinkled 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 hands on them.

²⁴And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.

²⁵And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord

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

²⁷Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord

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, the 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

³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord

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 their brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had sanctified themselves, for the Levites were more diligent in sanctifying themselves than the priests.

³⁵Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord

³⁶Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.