2 Chronicles 29

1Hezekiah began to reign [when he was] twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name [was] Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, had done. 3In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 4And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east plaza 5and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and ye shall sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of the sanctuary. 6For our fathers have rebelled and done [that which was] evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, for [they] have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned [their] backs. 7They even shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the sanctuary unto the God of Israel. 8Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has come upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. 9For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives [are] in captivity for this. 10Now [it is] in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11My sons, do not deceive yourselves, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should be his ministers and burn incense unto him. 12Then the Levites arose, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah, of the sons of Kohath; and of the sons of Merari, Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehalelel; and of the sons of Gershon; Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joah; 13and of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14and of the sons of Heman; Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15And they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and entered in, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. 16And 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. 17Now they began to sanctify on the first [day] of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the LORD; and they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18Then 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 its vessels, and the showbread table with all the its vessels. 19Likewise we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels, which King Ahaz in his reign cast away in his transgression, and, behold, they [are] before the altar of the LORD. 20Then Hezekiah, the king, rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of the LORD. 21And they offered seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he goats, for the sin of the kingdom and of the sanctuary and of Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer [them] on the altar of the LORD. 22So 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 also killed the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. 23And they brought forth the he goats of the sin before the king and the congregation, and they laid their hands upon them; 24and the priests killed them, and they removed the sin with their blood upon the altar, to reconcile all Israel, for the king commanded [that] the burnt offering and [the atonement] for sin [should be offered] for all Israel. 25And 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 of Nathan, the prophet, for that commandment [was] by the hand of the LORD, by the hand of his prophets. 26And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27[Then] 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 of David, king of Israel. 28And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpets sounded; [and] all [this continued] until the burnt offering was finished. 29And when they had finished offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. 30Moreover, 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 down and worshipped. 31Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and praises in the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and praises, and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings. 32And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was seventy bullocks, one hundred rams, [and] two hundred lambs; all these [were] for the burnt offering of the LORD. 33And the consecrated things [were] six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. 34But the priests were too few so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings; therefore, their brethren, the Levites, helped them until 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. 35And 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. 36And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people, for the thing was [done] suddenly.:
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