Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah got up early and assembled the princes 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 ^(A)as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. And he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs as well, and ^(B)sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³ Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and ^(C)they laid their hands on them. ²⁴ The priests slaughtered them and purified the altar with their blood ^(D)to atone for all Israel, because the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

^25 (E)He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, ^(F)according to the command of David and of ^(G)Gad, the king’s seer, and of ^(H)Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets. ²⁶ The Levites stood with ^(I)the musical instruments of David, and ^(J)the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, ^(K)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, ^(L)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. ^(M)So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “^(N)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 ^(O)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; ^(P)therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and the other priests had consecrated themselves. For ^(Q)the Levites were more ^[d]conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests. ³⁵ There were also ^[e](R)many burnt offerings with ^(S)the fat of the peace offerings and ^(T)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.