Moff 2 CHR Chapter 29

◄ 2 CHR 29 ► ║ ═ ©

29 Hezekiah began to reign at the age of five and twenty, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Eternal, exactly as David his ancestor had done. 3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Eternal and repaired them. 4 He also summoned the priests and Levites, assembling them in the open space east of the temple, 5 and said to them, "Listen, O Levites; purify yourselves and purify the temple of the Eternal the God of your fathers, removing the filth from the sacred shrine. 6 For our fathers have sinned and done wrong in the sight of the Eternal our God, they have abandoned him, they have ignored the dwelling-place of the Eternal and turned their backs upon him; 7 they have shut up the doors in the porch and put out the lamps, they have not burned incense

nor sacrificed burnt-offerings in the sacred shrine to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the Eternal’s anger has rested on Judah and Jerusalem; he has left them to be an awful example, at which men shudder and hiss—as you can see for yourselves. 9 For this has led to our fathers being cut down, and our boys and girls and wives being made prisoners. 10 Now I mean to make a compact with the Eternal the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn from us. 11 My children, be not indifferent; for the Eternal has chosen you for his service, to wait on him, that you should be his attendants and burn incense.”

12 Then up rose the Levites, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, who were Kohathites, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel, who were Merarites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah, who were Gershonites, 13 Shimri and Jehiel, who were descendants of Elizaphan, Zecharlah and Mattaniah, who were Asaphites, 14 Jehuel and Shimei, who were Hemanites, and Shemaiah and Uzziel, who were descendants of Jeduthun; 15 they mustered their fellows, purified themselves, and entered, by order of the king under the authority of the Eternal, to cleanse the temple of the Eternal. 16 The priests went inside the interior of the temple of the Eternal to cleanse it, and brought out all the filth they found inside the temple of the Eternal, to the court of the temple of the Eternal, whence the Levites carried it off to the Kidron-ravine. 17 They began this purifying on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they reached the porch of the Eternal; then they purified the temple of the Eternal in eight days, finishing everything on the sixteenth day of the first month, 18 when they went to king Hezekiah in the palace and reported that they had cleansed all the temple of the Eternal, the altar of burnt-offering with all its utensils, and the table for the Presence-bread, with all its utensils, 19 besides mending, purifying, and placing before the altar of the Eternal all the utensils which had been flung aside during the reign of king Ahaz, when he committed sacrilege.

20 Then king Hezekiah rose early, summoned the authorities of the city, and went up to the temple of the Eternal. 21 Seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats were brought as a sin-offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah, which he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to sacrifice on the altar of the Eternal. 22 So they killed the bullocks; the priests received the blood and splashed it on the altar. They killed the rams, and splashed their blood upon the altar. They also killed the lambs, and splashed their blood upon the altar. 23 The he-goats for the sin-offering were led before the king and the gathering, who laid their hands upon them; 24 then the priests killed them and made a sin-offering with their blood upon the altar, as an expiation for all Israel (for the king gave orders that the burnt- offering and the sin-offering were to be sacrificed for all Israel). 25 The Levites he placed in the temple of the Eternal, with cymbals, lutes, and lyres, in accordance with the regulations of David, of Gad the royal seer, and of Nathan the prophet (for the Eternal had transmitted the order by means of his prophets). 26 The Levites stood with the Davidic instruments, the priests with the trumpets. 27 Hezekiah ordered the burnt-offering to be sacrificed on the altar. And as the sacrifice began, the song to the Eternal began also, with trumpet blasts, led by the musical instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The congregation all worshipped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters blew blasts, all together, until the sacrifice was over. 29 At the close of the sacrifice, the king and all who were present bowed low in worship. 30 (King Hezekiah and his nobles had ordered the Levites to sing praise to the Eternal from the psalms of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang psalms gladly, then bowed their heads in worship.)

31 Then Hezekiah addressed the gathering. "Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Eternal," he said, "draw near and bring to the temple of the Eternal sacrifices by way of thank-offerings." So they came forward with sacrifices of thank-offering, and all who cared brought burnt-offerings of their own accord. 32 The burnt-offerings brought by the gathering amounted to seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs, all of which were given as a burnt- offering to the Eternal. 33 The thank-offerings amounted to six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. 34 There were too few priests to flay all the victims for the burnt-offering; so the priests were helped by their fellows, the Levites, till the work was done—till all the priests had purified themselves (for the Levites had been more strict about purifying themselves than the priests). 35 Besides, there was a large quantity of burnt-offerings to be disposed of, with fat slices from the victims of the recompense-offerings and libations from every burnt-offering. In this way the service of the Eternal’s temple was inaugurated. 36 Hezekiah and the whole nation rejoiced that God had provided thus for the worship of the people; for the thing had come as a sudden surprise.

2 CHR C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36

Moff 2 CHR Chapter 29

Moff 2 CHR Chapter 29