2 Chronicles 29
GOD’S WORD Translation
King Hezekiah Rededicates the Temple(A)
29 Hezekiah began to rule as king when he was 25 years old. He ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done.
3 In the first month of his first year as king, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them. 4 He brought the priests and Levites together in the square on the east side ⌞of the temple⌟.
5 He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Perform the ceremonies to make the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors holy. Remove anything that has been corrupted from the holy place. 6 Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what the Lord our God considered evil. They deserted him. They turned away from the Lord’s tent [a] and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the ⌞temple’s⌟ entrance hall, extinguished the lamps, and didn’t burn incense or sacrifice burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8 So the Lord was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He made them something that shocks and terrifies people and that people ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Our fathers were killed in battle, and our sons, daughters, and wives are prisoners because of this. 10 Now I intend to make a pledge to the Lord God of Israel so that he may turn his burning anger away from us. 11 Don’t be negligent, my sons. The Lord has chosen you to stand in front of him, serve him, be his servants, and burn sacrifices.”
12 So the Levites started to work.
From Kohath’s descendants were Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah.
From Merari’s descendants were Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallelel.
From Gershon’s descendants were Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah.
13 From Elizaphan’s descendants were Shimri and Jeiel.
From Asaph’s descendants were Zechariah and Mattaniah.
14 From Heman’s descendants were Jehiel and Shimei.
From Jeduthun’s descendants were Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 These men gathered their relatives and performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they obeyed the king’s order from the Lord’s word and entered the temple to make it clean.[b] 16 The priests entered the Lord’s temple to make it clean. They carried into the courtyard every unclean thing that they found in the Lord’s temple. Then the Levites took the unclean items outside the city to the Kidron Brook. 17 They started on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day they went into the Lord’s entrance hall, and for eight days they performed the ceremonies to make the Lord’s temple holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18 Then they went to King Hezekiah. They said ⌞to him⌟, “We have made all of the Lord’s temple clean. This includes the altar for burnt offerings, all its utensils, the table for the rows of bread and all its utensils, 19 and all the utensils King Ahaz refused to use during his reign when he was unfaithful. We have restored them and made them holy. They are in front of the Lord’s altar.”
20 Early in the morning Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city and went to the Lord’s temple. 21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as an offering for sin for the kingdom, the holy place, and Judah. Hezekiah told the priests, Aaron’s descendants, to sacrifice the animals on the Lord’s altar.
22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. After that, they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23 Then they brought the male goats for the offering for sin in front of the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them. 24 The priests slaughtered the goats and made their blood an offering for sin at the altar to make peace with the Lord for Israel. The king had said that the burnt offerings and offerings for sin should be for all Israel.
25 He had the Levites stand in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres as David, the king’s seer [c] Gad, and the prophet Nathan had ordered. This command came from the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests had the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah ordered the sacrificing of burnt offerings on the altar. When the burnt offerings started, the songs to the Lord started. These songs were accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of King David of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed down with their faces touching the ground, singers began to sing, and the trumpets blew until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the burnt offerings were finished, the king and everyone who was with him kneeled and bowed down. 30 Then King Hezekiah and the leaders told the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and the seer Asaph. They joyfully sang praises, bowed down, and worshiped.
31 Hezekiah said, “You have dedicated your lives to the Lord. Come, bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord’s temple.”
The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings. 32 The burnt offerings brought by the assembly totaled 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All of these were burnt offerings to the Lord. 33 The animals dedicated as holy sacrifices were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests needed more help to skin all the burnt offerings. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed and the priests could make themselves holy. The Levites were more diligent in making themselves holy than the priests were. 35 There were many burnt offerings in addition to the fat of the fellowship offerings and wine offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the worship in the Lord’s temple was reestablished. 36 Hezekiah and all the people were overjoyed because of what God had done for the people. Everything had happened so quickly.
2 Chronicles 29
King James Version
29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, 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 together into the east street,
5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and 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 holy place unto the God of Israel.
8 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye 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 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto 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, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: 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 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, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord: so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
18 Then 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 the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.
19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.
20 Then 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 bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
23 And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25 And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets.
26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the 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 also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.
28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.
30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto 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 free heart burnt offerings.
32 And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.
33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.
34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves 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. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order.
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.
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