2 Chron. 29:1‑31:21• 1{i}Hezekiah began to reign being twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.{/i}
2{i}And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done.{/i}
3{i}He,{/i} in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of Jehovah and repaired them.
4And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east street,
5and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Jehovah, and turned their backs.
7Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.
8Wherefore the wrath of Jehovah was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
9For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with Jehovah God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11My sons, be not now negligent: for Jehovah hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.
12{i}Then the Levites rose up, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalleleel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah;{/i}
13{i}and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;{/i}
14{i}and of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.{/i}
15{i}And they gathered their brethren, and hallowed themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king by the words of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah.{/i}
16{i}And the priests went into the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it, and carried forth all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah, into the court of the house of Jehovah. And the Levites took it to carry it forth into the brook Kidron.{/i}
17Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of Jehovah: so they sanctified the house of Jehovah in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
18{i}And they went in to king Hezekiah, and said, We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the table of the bread to be set in rows, and all its vessels;{/i}
19{i}and all the vessels that king Ahaz in his reign cast away in his transgression have we prepared and hallowed, and behold, they are before the altar of Jehovah{/i}.
20Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of Jehovah.
21And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Jehovah.
22So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
23And they brought forth the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them.
24And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for so was the commandment of Jehovah by his prophets.
26And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of Jehovah began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.
28And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.
30Moreover, Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises unto Jehovah with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
31{i}And Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves to Jehovah, come near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart, burnt-offerings.{/i}
32{i}And the number of the burnt-offerings, which the congregation brought, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt-offering to Jehovah.{/i}
33{i}And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.{/i}
34{i}Only the priests were too few, and they could not flay all the burnt-offerings; therefore their brethren the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had hallowed themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to hallow themselves than the priests.{/i}
35{i}And also the burnt-offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-offerings for the burnt-offering. And{/i} the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order.
36And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.
1{i}And Hezekiah{/i} sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem to keep the Passover unto Jehovah God of Israel.
2{i}And the king took counsel, and his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, to hold the Passover in the second month.{/i}
3{i}For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not hallowed themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people been gathered together to Jerusalem.{/i}
4And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
5{i}So{/i} they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel from Beer-Sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto Jehovah God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.
6So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto Jehovah God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you—that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7And be not ye like your fathers and like your brethren which trespassed against Jehovah God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see.
8Now, be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto Jehovah, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified forever, {i}and serve Jehovah your God, that the fierceness of his anger may turn away from you.{/i}
9{i}For if ye return to Jehovah, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with those that have carried them captive, so that they shall come again unto this land; for Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him.{/i}
10So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.
11Nevertheless, divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king, and of the princes, by the word of Jehovah.
13And there assembled {i}at Jerusalem much people to hold the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation{/i}.
14And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the brook Kidron.
15Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month, and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of Jehovah,
16and they stood in their place {i}after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood receiving it from the hand of the Levites.{/i}
17{i}For there were many in the congregation that were not hallowed; therefore the Levites had the charge of the slaughtering of the Passover-lambs for every one not clean, to hallow them unto Jehovah.{/i}
18{i}For a multitude of the people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and they ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, Jehovah, who is good, forgive every one{/i}
19{i}that has directed his heart to seek God, Jehovah the God of his fathers, although not according to the purification of the sanctuary.{/i}
20{i}And Jehovah hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.{/i}
21{i}And{/i} the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, singing with loud instruments unto Jehovah.
22And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites {i}that had understanding in the good knowledge of Jehovah; and they ate the feast-offerings the seven days, sacrificing peace-offerings, and extolling Jehovah the God of their fathers.{/i}
23{i}And the whole congregation took counsel to observe other seven days; and they observed the seven days with gladness.{/i}
24For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
26So there was great joy in Jerusalem; {i}for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had not been the like in Jerusalem.{/i}
27{i}And the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, to the heavens{/i}.
1{i}And when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the columns, and hewed down the Asherahs, and demolished the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all.{/i} Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his own possession, into their own cities.
2And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests, {i}and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, as well the priests as the Levites, for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings, to serve and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the courts of Jehovah.{/i}
3{i}And he ordered that the king's portion should be taken from his substance for the burnt-offerings: for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, for the burnt-offerings of the Sabbaths, and of the new moons, and of the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Jehovah.{/i}
4{i}And he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of Jehovah.{/i}
5{i}And as soon as the commandment was published, the children of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of corn, new wine and oil and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all things.{/i}
6{i}And the children of Israel and of Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to Jehovah their God, and laid them by heaps.{/i}
7{i}In the third month they began to lay the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.{/i}
8{i}And Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, and they blessed Jehovah, and his people Israel.{/i}
9{i}And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.{/i}
10{i}And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok spoke to him and said, Since they began to bring the heave-offerings into the house of Jehovah, we have eaten and been satisfied and have left plenty; for Jehovah has blessed his people; and what is left is this great store.{/i}
11{i}And Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Jehovah; and they prepared them,{/i}
12{i}and brought in the heave-offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully; and over these Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was second.{/i}
13{i}And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Jismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the command of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.{/i}
14{i}And Kore the son of Jimnah the Levite, the doorkeeper toward the east, was over the voluntary-offerings of God, to distribute the heave-offerings of Jehovah, and the most holy things.{/i}
15{i}And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set trust, to make distributions to their brethren by their divisions, to the great as to the small,{/i}
16{i}besides those from three years old and upward who as males were entered in the genealogical register, —all that came into the house of Jehovah, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their charges, according to their divisions,{/i}
17{i}—both to the priests enregistered according to their fathers' houses, and to the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges, by their divisions;{/i}
18{i}and to all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, the whole congregation of those entered in the register; for in their trust they hallowed themselves to be holy.{/i}
19{i}And for the sons of Aaron the priests who were in the country, in the suburbs of their cities, there were, in every several city, men expressed by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all the Levites that were entered in the register.{/i}
20Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before Jehovah his God.
21And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered. (2 Chron. 29:1‑31:21)