King James Version

1 Hezekiah became king at the age of twenty-five and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes 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 strengthened them. 4 And he brought the priests and the Levites and gathered them to the eastern square. 5 And he said to them, "Listen to me, you Levites; now consecrate yourselves and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and bring out the unclean from the sanctuary." 6 For our ancestors have acted wickedly in the eyes of the LORD our God, and they abandoned Him and turned their backs from the dwelling of the LORD. 7 Also, they shut the doors of the temple, and they extinguished the lamps, and they did not burn incense, and they did not offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. 8 And the anger of the Lord was aroused against Judah and Jerusalem, and He made them a horror, a desolation, and a hiss, as you see with your own eyes. 9 And behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity because of this. 10 Now with my heart, I will cut a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, and He will turn away His fierce anger from us. 11 I have chosen you to stand before me to serve me and to be my ministers and to offer sacrifices. 12 And the Levites rose up: Mahat son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kehati; and from the sons of Merari, Kishi son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Yoah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Yoah. 13 And from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah. 14 And from the sons of Heman, Yahuel, Yechiel, and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 And they gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves, and they came as the command of the king, by the words of the Lord, to purify the house of the Lord. 16 And the priests went inside the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord to the courtyard of the house of the Lord, and the Levites received it to take it to the brook Kidron outside. 17 And they began on the first day of the month to consecrate, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the temple of the Lord and consecrated the house of the Lord for eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 And they came in to Hezekiah the king and said, "We have purified all the house of the Lord, the altar of the burnt offering, and all its utensils, and the table of the showbread and all its utensils." 19 And all the utensils that King Ahaz neglected in his reign, we prepared and sanctified, and they are before the altar of the Lord. 20 And Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the princes 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 goats for a sin offering on behalf of the kingdom and on behalf of the sanctuary and on behalf of Judah, and he said to the sons of Aaron the priests to offer on the altar of the LORD. 22 And they slaughtered the cattle, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar, and they slaughtered the bulls and sprinkled the blood on the altar, and they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23 And they brought the sin offerings before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24 And the priests slaughtered them and sprinkled their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king had said to all Israel regarding the burnt offering and the sin offering. 25 And he appointed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with lyres, and with harps, by the command of David and Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet, for the command was from the Lord by the hand of His prophets. 26 And the Levites stood with the implements of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 And Hezekiah said to bring up the burnt offering to the altar, and at the time the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began as well, and the trumpets and the instruments of King David of Israel were in hand. 28 And all the assembly is bowing down, and the song is sung, and the trumpets are sounding, all until the offering is completed. 29 And when they finished bringing up, they kneeled before the king and all who were with him, and they bowed down. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials said to the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer, and they praised with joy and bowed down and worshiped. 31 And Hezekiah answered and said, "Now that you have filled your hand to the LORD, come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD." And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 And the number of the burnt offerings which the congregation brought was seventy rams, one hundred lambs, two hundred for a burnt offering to the LORD; all of these. 33 And the holy things were six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep. 34 Only the priests were few, and they could not strip all the burnt offerings, and their brothers the Levites strengthened them until the work was completed and until the priests were consecrated, for the Levites were upright of heart to consecrate themselves from the priests. 35 And also the burnt offerings for the majority with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offerings, and the service of the house of the LORD was prepared. 36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because the God had prepared for the people, for suddenly the matter happened.