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Hezekiah King of Judah
29 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like everything that his father David had done.
Restoration of the Temple
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the House of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the eastern square. 5 He said to them:
Listen to me, you Levites! Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the House of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove the filth from the holy place, 6 for our fathers have been unfaithful. They have done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him. They have turned their faces away from the dwelling of the Lord. They have turned their backs. 7 They also have shut the doors of the porch of the temple and have extinguished the lamps. They have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
8 So the wrath of the Lord is on Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them into an object of terror, horror, and hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 Look! Our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this. 10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. 11 Now, you my sons, do not be negligent, for you are the ones the Lord has chosen to stand in his presence, to minister to him, to serve him, and to burn incense to him.
12 These are the Levites who responded:
from the descendants of the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah,
from the descendants of Merari: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jahallelel,
from the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah,
13 from the descendants of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel, from the descendants of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah,
14 from the descendants of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei, and from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 They gathered their brother Levites, consecrated themselves, and went to cleanse the House of the Lord, as the king commanded by the words of the Lord.
16 The priests entered the inner part of the Lord’s house to cleanse it. They brought every unclean thing that they found in the Lord’s temple out into the courtyard of the House of the Lord. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley.
17 On the first day of the first month, they began to consecrate the temple. By the eighth day of the month they had gotten as far as the porch of the Lord. They continued to purify the House of the Lord for eight more days. On the sixteenth day of the first month, they completed the work.
18 They went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the entire House of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the presentation of bread and all its utensils. 19 We have prepared and consecrated all the utensils which King Ahaz discarded during his reign, when he was unfaithful. Look! They are right there in front of the altar of the Lord.”
20 King Hezekiah got up early. He gathered the officials of the city 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, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. He commanded the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22 So they slaughtered the cattle. The priests collected the blood and splashed it against the altar. They killed the rams and splashed the blood against the altar. They killed the lambs and splashed the blood against the altar. 23 Then they brought the male goats for the sin offering to the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24 The priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had commanded a burnt offering and a sin offering for all Israel.
25 He stationed the Levites in the House of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet, because a command that comes through the hand of his prophets is a command from the hand of the Lord. 26 The Levites stood with the musical instruments prescribed by David, and the priests stood with the trumpets.
27 Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. At the time that the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord and the trumpets also began. While the instruments prescribed by David king of Israel were playing, 28 the whole assembly bowed down and worshipped. The singers sang. The trumpeters sounded the trumpets. All this continued until the burnt offering was completed.
29 When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshipped.
30 King Hezekiah and his officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang glad praises and bowed down and worshipped.
31 Hezekiah responded, “Now you have taken up your duty to the Lord.[a] Approach and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the House of the Lord.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings. All those whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
32 The number of burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy cattle, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these served as a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 The consecrated offerings consisted of six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep.
34 But the priests were too few to be able to skin all the burnt offerings. So, their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed and until more priests had consecrated themselves, because the Levites were more upright in heart[b] in consecrating themselves than the priests.
35 In addition to the great number of burnt offerings, they presented both the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the service of the House of the Lord was restored.
36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had restored this for the people, and all this had been done very quickly.
Strong and Weak Christians Both Belong to the Lord
14 Accept a person who is weak in faith, and do not pass judgment on things that are just a difference of opinion. 2 One person believes it is right to eat anything. Another person who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything should not look down on the person who does not do so, and the one who does not eat everything should not judge the person who does, because God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is up to his master to decide whether that servant stands or falls. And he will stand, because God[a] is able to make him stand.
5 One person values one day above another. Another person values every day the same. Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The person who honors a certain day does this for the Lord, and the person who eats does this for the Lord, because he gives thanks to God. And the person who does not eat does this for the Lord and gives thanks to God.
7 In fact, not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. 8 Indeed, if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this reason he died, rose,[b] and lived, to be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Do Not Cause a Weak Christian to Stumble in Faith
10 But you, why do you pass judgment on your brother? And you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s[c] judgment seat. 11 Indeed, it is written:
As I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow to me,
and every tongue will acknowledge God.[d]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
13 Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, resolve never to put an obstacle or a snare in the path of your brother. 14 I know, and I am convinced in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it becomes unclean for the one who considers it to be unclean. 15 For example, if your brother is offended because of the food you eat, you are no longer walking in line with love. Do not destroy that person for whom Christ died by the food you eat! 16 So do not give others a reason to speak evil about what you consider good.
17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Certainly a person who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and has the approval of people. 19 Consequently, let us pursue those things that lead to peace and building up one another.
20 Do not tear down God’s work for the sake of food. Everything is pure, but it is wrong for a person to eat if it causes anyone to stumble. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything if it causes your brother to stumble.
22 Keep the conviction that you have in these matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because it does not proceed from faith.[e] Everything that does not proceed from faith[f] is sin.
Psalm 24
The King of Glory
Heading
By David. A psalm.
The King of Glory Owns the Whole World
1 The earth is the Lord’s
and everything that fills it,
the world and all who live in it,
2 because he founded it on the seas,
and he established it on the rivers.[a]
The King of Glory Is Served by a Holy People
3 Who may go up to the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
whose soul is not set on what is false,
who does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God who saves him.
6 Such are the people of Jacob who look for the Lord,
who seek your face.[b] Interlude
The King of Glory Comes
7 Lift up your heads, you gates.
Lift yourselves up, you ancient doors,
and the King of Glory will come in.
8 Who is this King of Glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, you gates.
Lift up, you ancient doors,
and the King of Glory will come in.
10 Who is he, this King of Glory?
The Lord of Armies—he is the King of Glory. Interlude[c]
12 An ear that hears and an eye that sees—
the Lord has made both of them.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.