2 Chronicles 31
31
Hezekiah Reforms Religious Life
1After the festival ended, all the people of Israel went to every city in Judah and broke the stone pillars, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and destroyed the altars and the pagan places of worship. They did the same thing throughout the rest of Judah, and the territories of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh; then they all returned home.
2King Hezekiah re-established the organization of the priests and Levites, under which they each had specific duties. These included offering the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, taking part in the temple worship, and giving praise and thanks in the various parts of the Temple. 3#Num 28.1—29.39From his own flocks and herds he provided animals for the burnt offerings each morning and evening, and for those offered on the Sabbath, at the New Moon Festival, and at the other festivals which are required by the Law of the LORD.
4 #
Num 18.12–13, 21 In addition, the king told the people of Jerusalem to bring the offerings to which the priests and the Levites were entitled, so that they could give all their time to the requirements of the Law of the LORD. 5As soon as the order was given, the people of Israel brought gifts of their finest corn, wine, olive oil, honey, and other farm produce, and they also brought the tithes#31.5 gifts… tithes: The gifts were for the priests, and the tithes for the Levites (see Num 18). of everything they had. 6All the people who lived in the cities of Judah brought tithes of their cattle and sheep, and they also brought large quantities of gifts, which they dedicated to the LORD their God. 7The gifts started arriving in the third month and continued to pile up for the next four months. 8When King Hezekiah and his officials saw how much had been given, they praised the LORD and praised his people Israel. 9The king spoke to the priests and the Levites about these gifts, 10and Azariah the High Priest, a descendant of Zadok, said to him, “Since the people started bringing their gifts to the Temple, there has been enough to eat and a large surplus besides. We have all this because the LORD has blessed his people.”
11On the king's orders they prepared storerooms in the Temple area 12and put all the gifts and tithes in them for safe-keeping. They placed a Levite named Conaniah in charge and made his brother Shimei his assistant. 13Ten Levites were assigned to work under them: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah. All this was done under the authority of King Hezekiah and Azariah the High Priest. 14Kore son of Imnah, a Levite who was chief guard at the East Gate of the Temple, was in charge of receiving the gifts offered to the LORD and of distributing them. 15In the other cities where priests lived, he was faithfully assisted in this by other Levites: Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. They distributed the food equally to their fellow-Levites according to what their duties were, 16and not by clans. They gave a share to all males thirty#31.16 Probable text thirty; Hebrew three. years of age or older who had daily responsibilities in the Temple in accordance with their positions. 17The priests were assigned their duties by clans, and the Levites twenty years of age or older were assigned theirs by work groups. 18They were all registered together with their wives, children, and other dependants, because they were required to be ready to perform their sacred duties at any time. 19Among the priests who lived in the cities assigned to Aaron's descendants, or in the pasture lands belonging to these cities, there were responsible men who distributed the food to all the males in the priestly families and to everyone who was on the rolls of the Levite clans.
20Throughout all Judah, King Hezekiah did what was right and what was pleasing to the LORD his God. 21He was successful, because everything he did for the Temple or in observance of the Law, he did in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to his God.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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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