1    ^noteHezekiah was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 2   He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his forefather had done.

3   In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the gates of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4   He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the square on the east side, and said to them, ‘Levites, listen to me. 5   Hallow yourselves now, hallow the house of the Lord the God of your fathers, and remove the pollution from the sanctuary. 6   For our forefathers were unfaithful and did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord our God: they forsook him, they would have nothing to do with his dwelling-place, they turned their backs on it. 7   They shut the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps, they ceased to burn incense and offer whole-offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. 8   Therefore the anger of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem and he made them repugnant, an object of horror and derision, as you see for yourselves. 9   Hence it is that our fathers have fallen by the sword, our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. 10   Now I intend that we should pledge ourselves to the Lord the God of Israel, in order that his anger may be averted from us. 11   So, my sons, let no time be lost; for the Lord has chosen you to serve him and to minister to him, to be his ministers and to burn sacrifices.’

12   Then the Levites set to work—Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah of the family of Kohath; of the family of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehalelel; of the family of Gershon, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; 13   of the family of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; of the family of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; of the family of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; 14   and of the family of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15   They assembled their kinsmen and hallowed themselves, and then went in, as the king had instructed them at the Lord's command, to purify the house of the Lord. 16   The

The kings from Hezekiah to the exile priests went inside to purify the house of the Lord; they removed all the pollution which they found in the temple into the court of the house of the Lord, and the Levites took it from them and carried it outside to the gorge of the Kidron. 17   They began the rites on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they reached the porch; then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18   Then they went into the palace ^note and said to King Hezekiah, ‘We have purified the whole of the house of the Lord, the altar of whole-offering with all its vessels, and the table for the Bread of the Presence arranged in rows with all its vessels; 19   and we have put in order and consecrated all the vessels which King Ahaz cast aside during his reign, when he was unfaithful. They are now in place before the altar of the Lord.’

20   Then King Hezekiah rose early, assembled the officers of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. 21   They brought seven bulls, seven rams, and seven lambs for the whole-offering, ^note and seven he-goats as a sin-offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah; these he commanded the priests of Aaron's line to offer on the altar of the Lord. 22   So the bulls were slaughtered, and the priests took their blood and flung it against the altar; the lambs were slaughtered, and their blood was flung against the altar. 23   Then the he-goats for the sin-offering were brought before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them; 24   and the priests slaughtered them and used their blood as a sin-offering on the altar to make expiation for all Israel. For the king had commanded that the whole-offering and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel.

25   He posted the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, lutes, and harps, according to the rule prescribed by David, by Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet; for this rule had come from the Lord through his prophets. 26   The Levites stood ready with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27   Hezekiah gave the order that the whole-offering should be offered on the altar. At the moment when the whole-offering began, the song to the Lord began too, with the trumpets, led by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28   The whole assembly prostrated themselves, the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the whole-offering was complete. 29   When the offering was complete, the king and all his company bowed down and prostrated themselves. 30   And King Hezekiah and his officers commanded the Levites to praise the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they praised him most joyfully and bowed down and prostrated themselves.

The kings from Hezekiah to the exile

31   Then Hezekiah said, ‘You have now given to the Lord with open hands; approach with your sacrifices and thank-offerings for the house of the Lord.’ So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank-offerings; and every man of willing spirit brought whole-offerings. 32   The number of whole-offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these made a whole-offering to the Lord. 33   And the consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. 34   But the priests were too few and could not flay all the whole-offerings; so their colleagues the Levites helped them until the work was completed and all the priests had hallowed themselves—for the Levites had been more scrupulous than the priests in hallowing themselves. 35   There were indeed whole-offerings in abundance, besides the fat of the shared-offerings and the drink-offerings for the whole-offerings. In this way the service of the house of the Lord was restored; 36   and Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had done for the people and because it had come about so suddenly.

Previous section

Next section