2 Chronicles 29
1 Hezekiah began to reign at the age of twenty-five, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.
2 He did what was right in the LORD’s sight, just as everything 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 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them in the square on the east side.
5 He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove everything impure from the sanctuary.
6 For our fathers were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on him.
7 They also shut the doors of the porch, put out the lamps, did not burn incense, and did not offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
8 That is why the LORD’s anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem. He made them an object of horror, desolation, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.
9 Because of this, our fathers fell by the sword, and our sons, daughters, and wives are in captivity.
10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, serve him, be his ministers, and burn incense.”
12 Then the Levites rose: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites; from the Merarites, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.
13 From the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel. From the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah.
14 From the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei. From the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 They gathered their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in, as the king had commanded and in keeping with the words of the LORD, to purify the house of the LORD.
16 The priests went inside the house of the LORD to purify it. They carried into the courtyard of the house of the LORD everything impure that they found in the temple of the LORD, and the Levites gathered it up to carry outside to the Kidron Valley.
17 They began the consecration on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the LORD. They consecrated the house of the LORD for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.
18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have purified the whole house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for the rows of bread with all its utensils.
19 We have also prepared and consecrated all the utensils that King Ahaz rejected during his reign, when he was unfaithful. Here they are, before the altar of the LORD.”
20 King Hezekiah got up early, gathered the city officials, and went up to the house of the LORD.
21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. The king commanded the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
22 They slaughtered the cattle, and the priests received the blood and splashed it against the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood against the altar; they slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood against the altar.
23 Then they brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.
24 The priests slaughtered them and used their blood to purify the altar, making atonement for all Israel. For the king had commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.
25 He stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David had commanded, along with Gad the king’s seer and the prophet Nathan. The command came from the LORD through his prophets.
26 The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests with their trumpets.
27 Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be offered on the altar. As the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD began too, accompanied by the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel.
28 The whole assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 When they finished offering the sacrifice, the king and everyone with him knelt down and worshiped.
30 King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and Asaph the seer. They praised with joy, bowed low, and worshiped.
31 Then Hezekiah spoke up and said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come forward and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone whose heart moved them brought burnt offerings.
32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were burnt offerings to the LORD.
33 The consecrated offerings consisted of six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.
34 But there were too few priests, and they could not skin all the burnt offerings. So their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and the priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more wholehearted in consecrating themselves than the priests.
35 There were also many burnt offerings, along with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was restored.
36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because it had all happened so suddenly.
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