2 Chronicles 31
31
The people destroy the local shrines
(2 Kings 18.4)
1After the Festival, the people went to every town in Judah and smashed the stone images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred poles#31.1 sacred poles: See the note at 14.3. for worshipping the goddess Asherah. They destroyed all the local shrines#31.1 local shrines: See the note at 11.15. and foreign altars in Judah, as well as those in the territories of Benjamin, Ephraim, and West Manasseh. Then everyone went home.
Offerings for the priests and Levites
2Hezekiah divided the priests and Levites into groups, according to their duties. Then he assigned them the responsibilities of offering sacrifices to please the LORD#31.2 sacrifices to please the LORD: See the note at 1.6. and sacrifices to ask his blessing.#31.2 sacrifices to ask his blessing: See the note at 29.33. He also appointed people to serve at the temple and to sing praises at the temple gates. 3Hezekiah provided animals from his own herds and flocks to use for the morning and evening sacrifices, as well as for the sacrifices during the Sabbath celebrations, the New Moon Festivals, and the other religious feasts required by the Law of the LORD.#Nu 28.1—29.39.
4He told the people of Jerusalem to bring the offerings that were to be given to the priests and Levites, so that they would have time to serve the LORD with their work.#Nu 18.12,13,21. 5As soon as the people heard what the king wanted, they brought a tenth of everything they owned, including their best grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and other crops. 6The people from the other towns of Judah brought a tenth of their herds and flocks, as well as a tenth of anything they had dedicated to the LORD. 7The people started bringing their offerings to Jerusalem in the third month,#31.7 third month: Sivan, the third month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-May to mid-June. and the last ones arrived four months later. 8When Hezekiah and his officials saw these offerings, they thanked the LORD and the people.
9Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the large amount of offerings. 10The high priest at the time was Azariah, a descendant of Zadok, and he replied, “Ever since the people have been bringing us their offerings, we have had more than enough food and supplies. The LORD has certainly blessed his people. Look at how much is left over!”
11So the king gave orders for storerooms to be built in the temple, and when they were completed, 12-13all the extra offerings were taken there. Hezekiah and Azariah then appointed Conaniah the Levite to be in charge of these storerooms. His brother Shimei was his assistant, and the following Levites worked with them: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah. 14Kore son of Imnah was assigned to guard the East Gate, and he was put in charge of receiving the offerings voluntarily given to God and of dividing them among the priests and Levites. 15-16He had six assistants who were responsible for seeing that all the priests in the other towns of Judah also got their share of these offerings. They were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah.
Every priest and every Levite over thirty#31.15,16 thirty: The Hebrew text has “three” instead of “thirty”; in Hebrew, these two words look almost exactly the same (see also Numbers 4.3; 1 Chronicles 23.3). years old who worked daily in the temple received part of these offerings, according to their duties. 17The priests were listed in the official records by clans, and the Levites twenty years old and older were listed by their duties. 18The official records also included their wives and children, because they had also been faithful in keeping themselves clean and acceptable to serve the LORD.
19Hezekiah also appointed other men to take food and supplies to the priests and Levites whose homes were in the pasture land around the towns of Judah. But the priests had to be descendants of Aaron, and the Levites had to be listed in the official records.
20-21Everything Hezekiah did while he was king of Judah, including what he did for the temple in Jerusalem, was right and good. He was a successful king, because he obeyed the LORD God with all his heart.
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2 Chronicles 31: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
2 Chronicles 31
31
1 And when these things had been celebrated according to ritual, all of Israel who had been found in the cities of Judah went forth, and they broke apart the idols and cut down the sacred groves. They demolished the high places and destroyed the altars, not only out of all Judah and Benjamin, but also out of Ephraim as well as Manasseh, until they utterly destroyed them. And all the sons of Israel returned to their possessions and cities.
2 Then Hezekiah appointed the companies of the priests and Levites by their divisions, each man in his proper office, certainly as much for the priests as for the Levites, for the sake of holocausts and peace offerings, so that they might minister and confess and sing, at the gates of the camp of the Lord.
3 Now the portion of the king, from his own substance, was such that they could offer a holocaust always, in morning and in evening, also on the Sabbaths, and the new moons, and the other solemnities, just as it was written in the law of Moses.
4 And now he instructed the people living in Jerusalem that they were to give portions to the priests and Levites, so that they would be able to attend to the law of the Lord.
5 And when this had reached the ears of the multitude, the sons of Israel brought an abundance of first-fruits of grain, wine, and oil, and also honey. And they offered a tenth part of all that the soil brings forth.
6 Then too, the sons of Israel and Judah, who were living in the cities of Judah, brought tithes of oxen and sheep, and tithes of the holy things that they had vowed to the Lord their God. And carrying all these things, they made many stacks.
7 In the third month, they began to lay out the foundations of the stacks. And in the seventh month, they finished them.
8 And when Hezekiah and his rulers had entered, they saw the stacks, and they blessed the Lord and the people of Israel.
9 And Hezekiah questioned the priests and Levites, as to why the stacks were laid out in this way.
10 Azariah, the high priest from the stock of Zadok, answered him, saying: "Since the first-fruits began to be offered in the house of the Lord, we have eaten and been satisfied, and much remains. For the Lord has blessed his people. Then what was left over is this great abundance, which you see."
11 And so Hezekiah instructed that they should prepare storage places for the house of the Lord. And when they had done so,
12 they faithfully brought in the first-fruits, as well as the tithes and all that they had vowed. Now the overseer of these things was Conaniah, a Levite; and his brother, Shimei, was second.
13 And after him, there was Jehiel, and Azariah, and Nahath, and Asaahel, and Jerimoth, and also Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, who were overseers under the hands of Conaniah, and his brother, Shimei, by the authority of Hezekiah, the king, and Azariah, the high priest of the house of God, to whom all these things belonged.
14 Yet truly, Kore, the son of Imnah, a Levite and the porter of the eastern gate, was the overseer of the things that were being offered freely to the Lord, and of the first-fruits, and of the things consecrated for the Holy of Holies.
15 And under his charge were Eden, and Benjamin, Jeshua, and Shemaiah, and also Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, so that they would distribute faithfully to their brothers, the small as well as the great, their portions
16 (except for the males from three years old and upward) for all who were entering the temple of the Lord, and for whatever was needed for the ministry, throughout each day, as well as for the observances according to their divisions.
17 And so, for the priests, by their families, and for the Levites, from the twentieth year and upward, by their orders and companies,
18 and for the entire multitude, as much for the wives as for their children of both sexes, provisions were offered faithfully from whatever had been sanctified.
19 Then too, men were appointed of the sons of Aaron, throughout the fields and the suburbs of each city, who would distribute portions to all the males among the priests and Levites.
20 Therefore, Hezekiah did all these things (which we have said) in all of Judah. And he worked what is good and upright and true before the Lord his God,
21 for the whole service of the ministry of the house of the Lord, in accord with the law and the ceremonies, desiring to seek his God with his whole heart. And he did so, and he prospered.
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