2 *Chronicles 29

₁Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old and he was king in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Abijah. She was the daughter of Zechariah. ₂Hezekiah did what the Lord loves. He did the things that his forefather David had done.

₃Hezekiah told the people to open the doors of the temple and to repair the temple. He started doing it in the first month of the first year after he had become king. ₄He called the priests and Levites to come to him in the courtyard east of the temple. ₅He said to them: ‘Levites, listen to me. You must consecrate yourselves and the temple of the God of your forefathers. You must take out everything in the temple that is impure. ₆Our forefathers were unfaithful. They did not do what the Lord our God said and they turned away from Him. They did not look after the temple of the Lord. ₇They also closed and locked the doors of the temple and they put out the lamps. They did not burn incense and they did not sacrifice_offerings in the temple of the God of Israel. ₈That is why the Lord became angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem and why He punished them so much. People who looked at them became afraid. They started to tremble and whistle. You have seen it yourselves. ₉You know that our forefathers died in war and our sons, our daughters and our wives became prisoners because they sinned like this. ₁₀Now I, Hezekiah, have decided that we must make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that He will not be angry with us anymore. ₁₁My sons, do not wait any longer. The Lord has chosen you to stand before Him and to work for Him. You must be his servants and his priests.’

₁₂Then those Levites came to Hezekiah and they stood in front of all the Levites.

From the Kohath family there were Mahath, son of Amasai and Joel, son of Azariah.

From the Merari family there were Kish, son of Abdi and Azariah, son of Jehallelel.

From the Gershon family there were Joah, son of Zimmah and Eden, son of Joah.

₁₃From the descendants of Elizaphan there were Shimri and Jeiel.

From the descendants of Asaph there were Zechariah and Mattaniah.

₁₄From the descendants of Heman there were Jehiel and Shimei.

From the descendants of Jeduthun there were Shemaiah and Uzziel.

₁₅They called together all the other Levites. They consecrated themselves and they went to the temple and cleaned it. They did it as the Lord said and as the king said. ₁₆The priests went into the temple to purify the temple. They took out everything that was impure and they took it to the courtyard outside the temple. The Levites took it to the Kidron Valley outside the city. ₁₇They started consecrating the temple on the first day of the first month. They came into the porch of the temple on the 8th day and they consecrated the temple for another 8 days. They were finished on the 16th day. ₁₈Then they went to King Hezekiah and they said to him: ‘We have purified the temple and the altar for the burnt-offerings and the table for the sacrificial bread and the tools for the work in the temple. ₁₉We have also purified everything that King Ahaz did not want in the temple when he was king and when he was unfaithful to the Lord. We have purified all of it and put it back in front of the altar of the Lord.’

₂₀Hezekiah called the leaders of the city to come to him the next morning and they all went to the temple. ₂₁They brought 7 bulls, 7 rams and 7 lambs for the burnt-offering. They also brought 7 goat-rams for a sin-offering for the king, for the temple and for the people of Judah. The king told the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to sacrifice the animals on the altar of the Lord. ₂₂They first killed the bulls, then the rams and then the lambs. They sprinkled the blood of every animal onto the altar. ₂₃Then they brought the goats for the sin-offering to the king and all the people who came together put their hands on the goats. ₂₄The priests killed the goats and they sacrificed the sin-offering with the blood of the goats. They made atonement for the sins of all the people of Israel, because the king said the burnt-offering and the sin-offering were offerings for all the people of Israel.

₂₅The king then told the Levites to stand at the temple with cymbals, harps and lyres. This is what God had told David and the prophets Gad and Nathan a long time before to tell them. ₂₆The Levites were ready with the musical_instruments that David had made and the priests were standing with the trumpets in their hands. ₂₇Hezekiah told the priests to start the fire on the altar and they sacrificed the burnt-offerings. The Levites started to sing the song of the Lord and they blew the trumpets. They played the musical_instruments of David, king_of_Israel. ₂₈All the people who came together bowed down and the Levites sang and the priests played the trumpets until they were finished giving their offerings. ₂₉When they finished sacrificing the burnt-offerings, the king and all who were with him went down on their knees. They bowed down with their faces to the ground. ₃₀King Hezekiah told the leaders of the Levites to praise the Lord with songs of David and Asaph, the prophet. They were happy and they did it. Then they went down on their knees and they bowed down with their faces to the ground. ₃₁Hezekiah then said to the people: ‘You have now consecrated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring thank-offerings to thank the Lord for the temple.’

The people sacrificed thank-offerings and all who wanted to do it also sacrificed burnt-offerings. ₃₂The burnt-offerings that they sacrificed were 70 cattle, 100 rams and 200 lambs. All of these were burnt-offerings for the Lord. ₃₃The holy_gifts were 600 cattle and 3 000 sheep and goats. ₃₄But there were too few priests to kill all the animals and take off their skins for the burnt-offerings. The Levites were from the same tribe as the priests and they helped the priests until they finished their work and until more priests had consecrated themselves. The Levites were more careful than the priests and they listened to the Lord better than the priests and they consecrated themselves to the Lord. ₃₅They had to sacrifice the burnt-offerings on the altar and they also had to sacrifice the fat of the meal-offerings and the drink-offerings.

This is how the people started to serve the Lord again at the temple. ₃₆Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God made everything happen that way. They were also happy because it happened so quickly.