³ In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and Levites and assembled them in the square on the east side. ⁵ He said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors.^[a] Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean. ⁶ For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of^[b] the Lord our God and abandoned him. They turned away^[c] from the Lord’s dwelling place and rejected him.^{[d] 7} They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel. ⁸ The Lord was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn,^[e] as you can see with your own eyes. ⁹ Look, our fathers died violently^[f] and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off^[g] because of this. ¹⁰ Now I intend^[h] to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.^{[i] 11} My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him,^[j] to be his ministers,^[k] and offer sacrifices.”^[l]

¹² The following Levites prepared to carry out the king’s orders:^[m]

From the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah;

from the Merarites: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel;

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;

from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵ They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word^[n] of the Lord. ¹⁶ The priests then entered the Lord’s temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside.^[o] The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the Lord’s temple.^[p] For eight more days they consecrated the Lord’s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished. ¹⁸ They went to King Hezekiah and said: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, including the altar of burnt sacrifice and all its equipment, and the table for the Bread of the Presence and all its equipment. ¹⁹ We have prepared and consecrated all the items that King Ahaz removed during his reign when he acted unfaithfully. They are in front of the altar of the Lord.”