2 ChroniclesChapter 29

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¹Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah. She was the daughter of Zechariah. ²He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. ³In the first month of his first year as king, Hezekiah opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He also repaired them. ⁴He brought in the priests and Levites. He gathered them in the open square on the east side. ⁵He said, "Listen to me, you Levites! Make yourselves holy now. Make the house of the LORD holy too. He is the God of your fathers. Take every unclean thing out of the Holy Place. ⁶Our fathers were unfaithful. They did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God. They left him. They turned their faces away from the place where the LORD lives. They turned their backs on him. ⁷They also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or give burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. ⁸So the LORD's anger has come on Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them something people fear, are shocked by, and make fun of. You can see this with your own eyes. ⁹Look, this is why our fathers have been killed by the sword. It is why our sons, daughters, and wives have been taken captive. ¹⁰Now I have it in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel. Then his fierce anger will turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, do not be lazy now. The LORD has chosen you to stand before him and serve him. You are to serve him and burn incense." ¹²Then the Levites got to work. From the Kohathites there were Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah. From the Merarites there were Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel. From the Gershonites there were Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah. ¹³From the Elizaphanites there were Shimri and Jeuel. From the Asaphites there were Zechariah and Mattaniah. ¹⁴From the Hemanites there were Jehiel and Shimei. And from the Jeduthunites there were Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵They gathered their brothers and made themselves holy. Then they went in to clean the house of the LORD. The king had commanded it, by the words of the LORD. ¹⁶The priests went inside the house of the LORD to clean it. They brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things they found in the temple of the LORD. Then the Levites took these things and carried them out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷They began to make it holy on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the LORD. For eight more days they made the house of the LORD itself holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month. ¹⁸Then they went in to King Hezekiah. They told him, "We have cleaned the whole house of the LORD. We cleaned the altar of burnt offering and all its tools. We cleaned the table for the holy bread and all its tools. ¹⁹King Ahaz was unfaithful while he ruled, and he threw some things away. We have gotten all of them ready and made them holy. They are now in front of the LORD's altar." ²⁰Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials. They went up to the house of the LORD. ²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats. These were a sin offering for the kingdom, for the holy place, and for Judah. The king told the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the LORD's altar. ²²So they killed the bulls. The priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³Then they brought the goats for the sin offering in front of the king and the people. They put their hands on the goats. ²⁴The priests killed the goats. They put the blood on the altar as a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel. They did this because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel. ²⁵Hezekiah placed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres. He did what David had commanded, and what Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded. This command came from the LORD through his prophets. ²⁶The Levites stood ready with David's instruments. The priests stood ready with the trumpets. ²⁷Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. As the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began too. The trumpets played, along with the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸All the people were worshiping. The singers were singing, and the trumpet players were playing. All this went on until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹When the offerings were done, the king and everyone with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰King Hezekiah and his officials told the Levites to sing praises to the LORD. They used the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy. They bowed down and worshiped. ³¹Then Hezekiah said, "Now you have set yourselves apart to the LORD. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD." So the people brought sacrifices and thank offerings. And all who were willing in their hearts brought burnt offerings. ³²The people brought seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All of these were burnt offerings to the LORD. ³³The animals set apart as holy offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings. So their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was done. They helped until the priests had made themselves holy. The Levites had been more careful to make themselves holy than the priests had been. ³⁵There were many burnt offerings. There was also the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings that went with the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was set up again. ³⁶Hezekiah and all the people were full of joy at what God had done for the people, because it had all happened so quickly.