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.
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2 Paralipomenon 29: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
2 Chronicles 29
29
King Hezekiah
1-2Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old and was king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. In God’s opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David.
3-9In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah, having first repaired the doors of The Temple of God, threw them open to the public. He assembled the priests and Levites in the court on the east side and said, “Levites, listen! Consecrate yourselves and consecrate The Temple of God—give this much-defiled place a good housecleaning. Our ancestors went wrong and lived badly before God—they discarded him, turned away from this house where we meet with God, and walked off. They boarded up the doors, turned out the lights, and canceled all the acts of worship of the God of Israel in the holy Temple. And because of that, God’s anger flared up and he turned those people into a public exhibit of disaster, a moral history lesson—look and read! This is why our ancestors were killed, and this is why our wives and sons and daughters were taken prisoner and made slaves.
10-11“I have decided to make a covenant with the God of Israel and turn history around so that God will no longer be angry with us. Children, don’t drag your feet in this! God has chosen you to take your place before him to serve in conducting and leading worship—this is your life work; make sure you do it and do it well.”
12-17The Levites stood at attention: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites; Shimri and Jeiel sons of Elizaphan; Zechariah and Mattaniah sons of Asaph; Jehiel and Shimei of the family of Heman; Shemaiah and Uzziel of the family of Jeduthun. They presented themselves and their brothers, consecrated themselves, and set to work cleaning up The Temple of God as the king had directed—as God directed! The priests started from the inside and worked out; they emptied the place of the accumulation of defiling junk—pagan rubbish that had no business in that holy place—and the Levites hauled it off to the Kidron Valley. They began the Temple cleaning on the first day of the first month and by the eighth day they had worked their way out to the porch—eight days it took them to clean and consecrate The Temple itself, and in eight more days they had finished with the entire Temple complex.
18-19Then they reported to Hezekiah the king, “We have cleaned up the entire Temple of God, including the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and the Table of the Bread of the Presence with their furnishings. We have also cleaned up and consecrated all the vessels which King Ahaz had gotten rid of during his misrule. Take a look; we have repaired them. They’re all there in front of the Altar of God.”
20-24Then Hezekiah the king went to work: He got all the leaders of the city together and marched to The Temple of God. They brought with them seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats to sacrifice as an Absolution-Offering for the royal family, for the Sanctuary, and for Judah as a whole; he directed the Aaronite priests to sacrifice them on the Altar of God. The priests butchered the bulls and then took the blood and sprinkled it on the Altar, and then the same with the rams and lambs. Finally they brought the goats up; the king and congregation laid their hands upon them. The priests butchered them and made an Absolution-Offering with their blood at the Altar to atone for the sin of all Israel—the king had ordered that the Whole-Burnt-Offering and the Absolution-Offering be for all Israel.
25-26The king ordered the Levites to take their places in The Temple of God with their musical instruments—cymbals, harps, zithers—following the original instructions of David, Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; this was God’s command conveyed by his prophets. The Levites formed the orchestra of David, while the priests took up the trumpets.
27-30Then Hezekiah gave the signal to begin: The Whole-Burnt-Offering was offered on the Altar; at the same time the sacred choir began singing, backed up by the trumpets and the David orchestra while the entire congregation worshiped. The singers sang and the trumpeters played all during the sacrifice of the Whole-Burnt-Offering. When the offering of the sacrifice was completed, the king and everyone there knelt to the ground and worshiped. Then Hezekiah the king and the leaders told the Levites to finish things off with anthems of praise to God using lyrics by David and Asaph the seer. They sang their praises with joy and reverence, kneeling in worship.
31-35Hezekiah then made this response: “The dedication is complete—you’re consecrated to God. Now you’re ready: Come forward and bring your sacrifices and Thank-Offerings to The Temple of God.”
And come they did. Everyone in the congregation brought sacrifices and Thank-Offerings and some, overflowing with generosity, even brought Whole-Burnt-Offerings, a generosity expressed in seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs—all for Whole-Burnt-Offerings for God! The total number of animals consecrated for sacrifice that day amounted to six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. They ran out of priests qualified to slaughter all the Whole-Burnt-Offerings so their brother Levites stepped in and helped out while other priests consecrated themselves for the work. It turned out that the Levites had been more responsible in making sure they were properly consecrated than the priests had been. Besides the overflow of Whole-Burnt-Offerings there were also choice pieces for the Peace-Offerings and lavish libations that went with the Whole-Burnt-Offerings. The worship in The Temple of God was on a firm footing again!
36Hezekiah and the congregation celebrated: God had established a firm foundation for the lives of the people—and so quickly!
* * *
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.