Chronicles II 29

1 And Ezekias began to reign at the age of twenty-five years, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abia, daughter of Zacharias.

Hezekiah was twenty-five when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. 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 his father David had done.

He did what was right in the Lord's sight, just as his forefather David had done.

3 And it came to pass, when he was established over his kingdom, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.

In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the Lord's Temple and repaired them.

4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and put them on the east side,

He summoned the priests and the Levites, and had them gather on the square to the east.

5 and said to them, Hear, ye Levites: now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and cast out the impurity from the holy places.

He told them, “Listen to me, Levites. Purify yourselves now and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your forefathers. Take away from the Holy Place everything that is filthy.

6 For our fathers have revolted, and done that which was evil before the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their face from the tabernacle of the Lord, and have turned [their] back.

For our fathers were sinful, and did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They abandoned him and paid no attention to the Lord's Temple, turning their backs on him.

7 And they have shut up the doors of the temple, and put out the lamps, and have not burnt incense, and have not offered whole-burnt-offerings in the holy [place] to the God of Israel.

They shut the doors at the entrance to the Temple and put out the lamps. They didn't burn incense or present burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

8 And the Lord was very angry with Juda and Jerusalem, and made them an astonishment, and a desolation, and a hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

So the Lord's anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them into something appalling, terrifying, and ridiculous, as you can see for yourselves.

9 And, behold, your fathers have been smitten with the sword, and your sons and your daughters and your wives are in captivity in a land not their own, as it is even now.

As a result, our fathers have died in battle, and our sons and our daughters and our wives have been captured.

10 Therefore it is now in my heart to make a covenant, a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that he may turn away his fierce wrath from us.

But now I'm going to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will no longer fall on us.

11 And now be not wanting [to your duty], for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him to minister, and to be ministers and burners of incense to him.

My sons, don't neglect your responsibilities, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence to serve him, and to be his ministers presenting burnt offerings.”

12 Then the Levites rose up, Maath the son of Amasi, and Joel the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of the sons of Merari, Kis the son of Abdi, and Azarias the son of Haelel: and of the sons of Gedsoni, Jodaad the son of Zemmath, and Joadam: these [were] the sons of Joacha.

Then the Levites went to work. They were Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah, from the Kohathites; Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallelel, from the Merarites; Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah, from the Gershonites;

13 And of the sons of Elisaphan; Zambri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zacharias, and Matthanias:

from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

14 and of the sons of Aeman; Jeiel, and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun; Samaisa, and Oziel.

from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 And they gathered their brethren, and they purified themselves according to the king's command by the order of the Lord, to purify the house of the Lord.

They called together the other Levites and all of them purified themselves. Then they went in to clean the Lord's Temple, as the king had commanded, following the instructions as required by the Lord.

16 And the priests entered into the house of the Lord, to purify [it], and they cast out all the uncleanness that was found in the house of the Lord, even into the court of the house of the Lord: and the Levites received [it] to cast into the brook of Kedron without.

The priests went into the inner sanctuary of the Lord's Temple to clean it. They removed all the unclean things that they found in the Lord's Temple and placed them in the Temple courtyard. Then the Levites took them out and carried them to the Kidron Valley.

17 And [Ezekias] began on the first day, [even] on the new moon of the first month, to purify, and on the eighth day of the month they entered into the temple of the Lord: and they purified the house of the Lord in eight days; and on the thirteenth day of the first month they finished [the work].

They started the work of purification on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they had reached the Temple porch. For eight more days they worked on purifying the Temple itself, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

18 And they went in to king Ezekias, and said, We have purified all the things in the house of the Lord, the altar of whole-burnt-offering, and its vessels, and the table of shew-bread, and its vessels;

Then they went in to tell King Hezekiah, “We have cleaned the entire Temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all its utensils.

19 and all the vessels which king Achaz polluted in his reign, in his apostasy, we have prepared and purified: behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.

We have recovered and purified all the items that King Ahaz threw away during his reign when he was unfaithful. They are now before the Lord's altar.”

20 And king Ezekias rose early in the morning, and gathered the chief men of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord.

King Hezekiah got up early, summoned the city officials, and went to the Lord's Temple.

21 And he brought seven calves, seven rams, seven lambs, seven kids of goats for a sin-offering, for the kingdom, and for the holy things, and for Israel: and he told the priests the sons of Aaron to go up to the altar of the Lord.

They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. The king ordered the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

22 And they slew the calves, and the priests received the blood, and poured it on the altar: and they slew the rams, and poured the blood upon the altar: also they slew the lambs, and poured the blood round the altar.

So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

23 And they brought the goats for a sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and laid their hands upon them.

Then they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, who placed their hands on them.

24 And the priests slew them, and offered their blood as a propitiation on the altar; and they made atonement for all Israel: for the king said, The whole-burnt-offering, and the sin-offering [are] for all Israel.

Then the priests killed the goats and placed their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for the whole of Israel, because the king had ordered that the burnt offering and sin offering were for the whole of Israel.

25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, and lutes, and harps, according to the commandment of king David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for by the commandment of the Lord the order [was] in the hand of the prophets.

Hezekiah had the Levites stand in the Lord's Temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres, following the instructions of David, Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet. The instructions had come from the Lord through His prophets.

26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

The Levites stood with the musical instruments provided by David, with the priests holding their trumpets.

27 And Ezekias told [them] to offer up the whole-burnt-offering on the altar: and when they began to offer the whole-burnt-offering, they began to sing to the Lord, and the trumpets [accompanied] the instruments of David king of Israel.

Then Hezekiah gave the order for the burnt offering to be offered on the altar. As the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began at the same time, the trumpets sounded, and music was played on the instruments of David, once king of Israel.

28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the psalm-singers [were] singing, and the trumpets sounding, until the whole-burnt-sacrifice had been completely offered.

All the people in the assembly were worshiping, the singers were singing, and the trumpeters were playing. This continued until the burnt offering was finished.

29 And when they had done offering [it], the king and all that were present bowed, and worshipped.

Once the offerings were completed, the king and everyone there with him bowed down and worshiped.

30 And king Ezekias and the princes told the Levites to sing hymns to the Lord in the words of David, and of Asaph the prophet: and they sang hymns with gladness, and fell down and worshipped.

Then King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord using the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed their heads and worshiped.

31 Then Ezekias answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, bring near and offer sacrifices of praise in the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord; and every one who was ready in his heart [brought] whole-burnt-offerings.

Then Hezekiah told them, “Now that you have dedicated yourselves to the Lord, come and bring your sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord's Temple.” So the people in the assembly brought their sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who wanted to brought burnt offerings.

32 And the number of the whole-burnt-offerings which the congregation brought, was seventy calves, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs: all these [were] for a whole-burnt-offering to the Lord.

The total number of burnt offerings they brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were to be a burnt offering to the Lord.

33 And the consecrated calves were six hundred, [and] the sheep three thousand.

In addition there were dedicated offerings of six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.

34 But the priests were few, and could not flay the whole-burnt-offering, so their brethren the Levites helped them, until the work was finished, and until the priests had purified themselves: for the Levites [more] zealously purified [themselves] than the priests.

Since there weren't enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite relatives helped them until the work was finished and the priests had been purified. (The Levites had been more conscientious in purifying themselves than the priests had.)

35 And the whole-burnt-offering [was] abundant, with the fat of the complete peace-offering, and the drink-offerings of the whole-burnt-sacrifice. So the service was established in the house of the Lord.

Apart from the large number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the friendship offerings, as well as the drink offerings that went with the burnt offerings. In this way the service of the Lord's Temple was restored.

36 And Ezekias and all the people rejoiced, because God has prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

Hezekiah and everyone there were so happy at what God done for the people, because everything had been achieved so quickly.