Hezekiah, in the first month of his reign, opens and repairs the temple, and the priests and Levites cleanse it. The people offer a great number of sacrifices, and the worship is restored with singing and music.
1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old , and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem . And his mother's name was Abijah , the daughter of Zechariah .
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD , according to all that David his father had done .
3 He in the first year of his reign , in the first month , opened the doors of the house of the LORD , and repaired them.
4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites , and gathered them together into the east street ,
5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites , sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers , and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6 For our fathers have trespassed , and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God , and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD , and turned their backs .
7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch , and put out the lamps , and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel .
8 Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem , and he hath delivered them to trouble , to astonishment , and to hissing , as ye see with your eyes .
9 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword , and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel , that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11 My sons , be not now negligent : for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense .
12 Then the Levites arose , Mahath the son of Amasai , and Joel the son of Azariah , of the sons of the Kohathites : and of the sons of Merari , Kish the son of Abdi , and Azariah the son of Jehalelel : and of the Gershonites ; Joah the son of Zimmah , and Eden the son of Joah :
13 And of the sons of Elizaphan ; Shimri , and Jeiel : and of the sons of Asaph ; Zechariah , and Mattaniah :
14 And of the sons of Heman ; Jehiel , and Shimei : and of the sons of Jeduthun ; Shemaiah , and Uzziel .
15 And they gathered their brethren , and sanctified themselves, and came , according to the commandment of the king , by the words of the LORD , to cleanse the house of the LORD .
16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD , to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD . And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron .
17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify , and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD : so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days ; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end .
18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king , and said , We have cleansed all the house of the LORD , and the altar of burnt offering , with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table , with all the vessels thereof.
19 Moreover all the vessels , which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression , have we prepared and sanctified , and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD .
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early , and gathered the rulers of the city , and went up to the house of the LORD .
21 And they brought seven bullocks , and seven rams , and seven lambs , and seven he goats , for a sin offering for the kingdom , and for the sanctuary , and for Judah . And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD .
22 So they killed the bullocks , and the priests received the blood , and sprinkled it on the altar : likewise, when they had killed the rams , they sprinkled the blood upon the altar : they killed also the lambs , and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar .
23 And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation ; and they laid their hands upon them:
24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar , to make an atonement for all Israel : for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel .
25 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals , with psalteries , and with harps , according to the commandment of David , and of Gad the king's seer , and Nathan the prophet : for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets .
26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David , and the priests with the trumpets .
27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar . And when the burnt offering began , the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets , and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel .
28 And all the congregation worshipped , and the singers sang , and the trumpeters sounded : and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished .
29 And when they had made an end of offering , the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped .
30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David , and of Asaph the seer . And they sang praises with gladness , and they bowed their heads and worshipped .
31 Then Hezekiah answered and said , Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD , come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD . And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings ; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings .
32 And the number of the burnt offerings , which the congregation brought , was threescore and ten bullocks , an hundred rams , and two hundred lambs : all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD .
33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep .
34 But the priests were too few , so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings : wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended , and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests .
35 And also the burnt offerings were in abundance , with the fat of the peace offerings , and the drink offerings for every burnt offering . So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order .
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced , and all the people , that God had prepared the people : for the thing was done suddenly .