1 H ezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

2 A nd he did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

3 I n the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.

4 H e brought together the priests and Levites in the square on the east

5 A nd said to them, Levites, hear me! Now sanctify (purify and make free from sin) yourselves and the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.

6 F or our fathers have trespassed and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have forsaken Him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the Lord and have turned their backs.

7 A lso they have closed the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the place holy to the God of Israel.

8 T herefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them to be a terror and a cause of trembling, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your own eyes.

9 F or, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this.

10 N ow it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that His fierce anger may turn away from us.

11 M y sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, to be His ministers, and to burn incense to Him.

12 T hen the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, Azariah son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

13 O f the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah, and Mattaniah;

14 O f the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 T hey gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and went in, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

16 T he priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the Lord’s house. And the Levites carried it out to the brook Kidron.

17 T hey began on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day they finished.

18 T hen they went to King Hezekiah and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the showbread table with all its utensils.

19 M oreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign cast away when he was transgressing we have made ready and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.

20 T hen King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.

21 T hey brought seven each of bulls, rams, lambs, and he-goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the Lord’s altar.

22 S o they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the rams and then the lambs, they dashed the blood against the altar.

23 T hen the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.

24 T he priests killed them and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and sin offering be made for all Israel.

25 H ezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded; for the commandment was from the Lord through His prophets.

26 T he Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

27 H ezekiah 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 King David of Israel.

28 A nd all the congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

29 W hen they had stopped offering, the king and all present with him bowed themselves and worshiped.

30 A lso King Hezekiah and the princes ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness and bowed themselves and worshiped.

31 T hen Hezekiah said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.

32 A nd the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.

33 A nd the consecrated things were 600 oxen and 3, 000 sheep.

34 B ut the priests were too few and could not skin all the burnt offerings. So until the other priests had sanctified themselves, their Levite kinsmen helped them until the work was done, for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in sanctifying themselves.

35 A lso 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 Lord’s house was set in order.

36 T hus Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of what God had prepared for the people, for it was done suddenly.