2 Chronicles, Chapter 29:
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Verses from 2 Chronicles, Chapter 29 of the book of the Bible.
Hezekiah's reforms
- 1. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abia, daughter of Zechariah.
- 2. He did what was approved by the Lord, just like David, his predecessor.
- 3. In the first month of the first year of his reign, he reopened the doors of the temple of the Lord and restored them.
- 4. He summoned the priests and the Levites and gathered them in the square on the east side.
- 5. Then he said, “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all impurity from the sanctuary.
- 6. Our ancestors were unfaithful and did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lord's dwelling place and turned their backs on him.
- 7. They also closed the doors of the porch, extinguished the lamps, and stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
- 8Because of this, the Lord's anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them an object of terror, horror, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes.
- 9. Because of this our fathers fell by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives were taken captive.
- 10. Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his anger may turn away from us.
- 11. My children, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, to minister before him, and to burn incense.”
- 12. Then the Levites arose: from the line of Kohath: Maath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah; of the lineage of Merari: Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jealelel; of the lineage of Gershom: Joah, son of Zimah, and Eden, son of Joah;
- 13. of the lineage of Elisaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; of the lineage of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah;
- 14. of the lineage of Heman: Jeuel and Shimei; of the lineage of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.
- 15. They gathered their brothers together, consecrated themselves, and began to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had commanded, following the word of the Lord.
- 16. The priests entered the sanctuary of the Lord to cleanse it and took all the unclean things found there into the temple courtyard, and the Levites took them to the Kidron Valley.
- 17. They began purification on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. For eight more days, they purified the temple of the Lord, ending everything on the sixteenth day.
- 18. Then they went to speak to King Hezekiah and reported: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, including the altar of burnt offerings and the table of bread of the Presence, with all its utensils.
- 19. We also prepared and consecrated all the utensils that King Ahaz, in his unfaithfulness, had removed during his reign. They are before the altar of the Lord now.”
- 20. The next day, early in the morning, King Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city and went up to the temple of the Lord.
- 21. They took seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary and Judah. The king ordered the priests, descendants of Aaron, to offer these animals as sacrifices on the altar of the Lord.
- 22. Then the priests sacrificed the bulls and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they did the same with the rams and lambs.
- 23. The goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.
- 24. The priests then sacrificed the goats and presented the blood on the altar as a sin offering to make atonement for all Israel, for the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.
- 25. The king placed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the instructions of King David, Gad, the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet. This was the Lord's order, transmitted by his prophets.
- 26. The Levites stood with David's instruments, and the priests with the trumpets.
- 27. Then King Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the holocaust began, songs to the Lord also began, accompanied by the trumpets and instruments of David, king of Israel.
- 28. The whole assembly prostrated itself, while the singers sang and the trumpeters blew, until the burnt offering was completed.
- 29. When they had finished offering the burnt offering, the king and all who were with him knelt down and worshiped God.
- 30. King Hezekiah and his officials told the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and Asaph, the king's seer. And they praised him with joy and bowed themselves in worship.
- 31. Then Hezekiah said, “You have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord.” The assembly brought sacrifices and gratitude offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings.
- 32. The number of burnt offerings offered by the assembly was seventy oxen, one hundred rams and two hundred lambs. All these animals were offered as burnt offerings to the Lord.
- 33. The burnt offerings were accompanied by six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep and goats, which were consecrated as sacrifices.
- 34. However, the priests were few and were unable to skin all the burnt offerings. Then their relatives, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed and until the other priests were consecrated. For the Levites were quicker to consecrate themselves than the priests.
- 35. In addition to the many burnt offerings, there were also the grain offerings and the spill offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings.
- 36. So Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had done for his people, for everything happened quickly and wonderfully.
