Hezekiah Succeeds Ahaz in Judah

29 ^(A)Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ^2 (B)He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father David had done.

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he ^(C)opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the public square on the east.

Reforms Begun

⁵ Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. ^(D)Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have abandoned Him and ^(E)turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have ^[a]turned their backs. ⁷ They have also ^(F)shut the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore ^(G)the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of ^(H)hissing, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ For behold, ^(I)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 ^(J)to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that His burning anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now, for ^(K)the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”

¹² Then the Levites arose: ^(L)Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of ^(M)the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;

²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, ^(A)the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, ^[a]accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. ²⁸ While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, ^(B)the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰ Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. ^(C)So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “^(D)Now that you have ^[b]consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come forward and bring sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and ^(E)everyone who was ^[c]willing brought burnt offerings. ³² The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all of these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³ The consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. ³⁴ But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; ^(F)therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and the other priests had consecrated themselves. For ^(G)the Levites were more ^[d]conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests. ³⁵ There were also ^[e](H)many burnt offerings with ^(I)the fat of the peace offerings and ^(J)the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the Lord was established again. ³⁶ Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.