2 Chronicles 29
29
Hezekiah Purifies the Temple
1Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah 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 the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. 6Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. 8Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. 10Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. 11My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”
12Then these Levites set to work:
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;
13from the descendants of Elizaphan,
Shimri and Jeiel;
from the descendants of Asaph,
Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14from the descendants of Heman,
Jehiel and Shimei;
from the descendants of Jeduthun,
Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord. 16The priests went into the sanctuary of the Lord to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the Lord. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. 17They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the Lord. For eight more days they consecrated the temple of the Lord itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles. 19We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”
20Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the Lord. 21They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering#29:21 Or purification offering; also in verses 23 and 24 for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the Lord. 22So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it against the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and splashed their blood against the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and splashed their blood against the altar. 23The goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24The priests then slaughtered the goats and presented their blood on the altar for a sin offering to atone for all Israel, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.
25He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets. 26So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments, and the priests with their trumpets.
27Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the musicians played and the trumpets sounded. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.
29When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. 30King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.
31Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
32The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred male lambs—all of them for burnt offerings to the Lord. 33The animals consecrated as sacrifices amounted to six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats. 34The priests, however, were too few to skin all the burnt offerings; so their relatives the Levites helped them until the task was finished and until other priests had been consecrated, for the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been. 35There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings.
So the service of the temple of the Lord was reestablished. 36Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done so quickly.
Currently Selected:
2 Chronicles 29: NIV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.
2 Paralipomenon 29
29
1Now Ezechias began to reign, when he was five and twenty years old; and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Abia, the daughter of Zacharias.
2And he did that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
3In the first year and month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.
4And he brought the priests and the Levites, and assembled them in the east street.
5And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be sanctified: purify the house of the Lord the God of your fathers: and take away all filth out of the sanctuary.
6Our fathers have sinned and done evil in the sight of the Lord God, forsaking him: they have turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs.
7They have shut up the doors that were in the porch, and put out the lamps. And have not burnt incense, nor offered holocausts in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
8Therefore the wrath of the Lord hath been stirred up against Juda and Jerusalem: and he hath delivered them to trouble, and to destruction, and to be hissed at, as you see with your eyes.
9Behold, our fathers are fallen by the sword: our sons, and our daughters, and wives are led away captives for this wickedness.
10Now therefore I have a mind that we make a covenant with the Lord the God of Israel: and he will turn away the wrath of his indignation from us.
11My sons, be not negligent. The Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, and to minister to him, and to worship him, and to burn incense to him.
12Then the Levites arose: Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of the sons of Merari, Cis the son of Abdi, and Azarias the son of Jalaleel: and of the sons of Gerson, Joah the son of Zemma, and Eden the son of Joah:
13And of the sons of Elisaphan, Samri, and Jahiel. Also of the sons of Asaph, Zacharias, and Mathanias.
14And of the sons of Heman, Jahiel, and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun, Semeias, and Oziel.
15And they gathered together their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in according to the commandment of the king, and the precept of the Lord, to purify the house of God.
16And the priests went into the temple of the Lord to sanctify it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found within to the entrance of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it away, and carried it out abroad to the torrent Cedron.
17And they began to cleanse on the first day of the first month; and on the eighth day of the same month they came into the porch of the temple of the Lord. And they purified the temple in eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the same month they finished what they had begun.
18And they went in to king Ezechias, and said to him: We have sanctified all the house of the Lord, and the altar of holocaust, and the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition with all its vessels,
19And all the furniture of the temple, which king Achaz in his reign had defiled, after his transgression. And, behold, they are all set forth before the altar of the Lord.
20And king Ezechias rising early assembled all the rulers of the city; and went up into the house of the Lord.
21And they offered together seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats for sin, for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, for Juda. And he spoke to the priests the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of the Lord.
22Therefore they killed the bullocks; and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar. They killed also the rams; and their blood they poured also upon the altar. And they killed the lambs, and poured the blood upon the altar.
23And they brought the he-goats for sin before the king, and the whole multitude. And they laid their hand upon them:
24And the priests immolated them, and sprinkled their blood before the altar for an expiation of all Israel: for the king had commanded that the holocaust and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel.
25And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps according to the regulation of David the king, and of Gad the seer, and of Nathan the prophet: for it was the commandment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets.
26And the Levites stood, with the instruments of David, and the priests with trumpets.
27And Ezechias commanded that they should offer holocausts upon the altar. And when the holocausts were offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to sound with trumpets, and divers instruments which David the king of Israel had prepared.
28And all the multitude adored: and the singers, and the trumpeters, were in their office till the holocaust was finished.
29And when the oblation was ended, the king, and all that were with him bowed down and adored.
30And Ezechias and the princes commanded the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, and Asaph the seer. And they praised him with great joy, and bowing the knee adored.
31And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled your hands to the Lord. Come and offer victims, and praises in the house of the Lord. And all the multitude offered victims, and praises, and holocausts with a devout mind.
32And the number of the holocausts which the multitude offered was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs.
33And they consecrated to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.
34But the priests were few, and were not enough to flay the holocausts. Wherefore the Levites their brethren helped them, till the work was ended, and priests were sanctified. For the Levites are sanctified with an easier rite than the priests.
35So there were many holocausts, and the fat of peace-offerings, and the libations of holocausts: and the service of the house of the Lord was completed.
36And Ezechias, and all the people rejoiced because the ministry of the Lord was accomplished. For the resolution of doing this thing was taken suddenly.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.