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 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah]. He ruled from Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of [a man whose name was] Zechariah.

2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

Hezekiah did things that Yahweh considered to be right, like his ancestor King 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.

During March of the first year that Hezekiah was ruling Judah, he unlocked the doors of the temple, and his workers repaired them.

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

Then he gathered the priests and other descendants of Levi in the area on the east side of the temple,

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

and he said to them, “You descendants of Levi, listen to me! Consecrate yourselves. And then consecrate the temple of Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors [worshiped/belonged to]. Remove from the temple all the things that are not pleasing to God.

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.

Our ancestors disobeyed God; they did many things that he considered to be evil, things that were not pleasing to him. They abandoned this place where Yahweh lives, and they have turned away from 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 locked the doors of the temple and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn any incense, and they did not offer any sacrifices that were to be completely burned [on the altar].

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

Therefore, Yahweh has become very angry with us people of Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah, and he has caused other people to become frightened and horrified [when they hear what Yahweh did to punish us]. And they ridicule us. You know this very well.

9 And, behold, your fathers have been struck 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.

That is why our fathers have been killed in battles, and our sons and daughters and our wives have been captured and taken [to other countries].

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 intend to make an agreement with Yahweh, our God, in order that he will no longer be angry with us.

11 And now be not lacking [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.

[You who are like] my sons, do not waste any time. [Do immediately what Yahweh wants you to do.] Yahweh has chosen you to stand in his presence and offer sacrifices and burn incense.”

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 these descendants of Levi started to work [in the temple]: From the descendants of Kohath there were Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah. From the descendants of Merari there were Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel. From the descendants of Gershon there were Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah.

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

From the descendants of Elizaphan there were Shimri and Jeiel. From the descendants of Asaph there were Zechariah and Mattaniah.

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

From the descendants of Heman there were Jehiel and Shimei. From the descendants of Jeduthun there were 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.

When those men had gathered their fellow descendants of Levi and had consecrated themselves, they entered the temple in order to consecrate it. That was what the king had commanded them to do, and they were also obeying what Yahweh had commanded.

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 entered the temple to consecrate it. They brought out into the courtyard of the temple everything that they had found in the temple that was not pleasing to Yahweh. Then the descendants of Levi took those things down to the Kidron Valley [and burned them there].

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].

The priests and other descendants of Levi started this work on the first day of March and finished purifying the courtyard [of the temple] on the eighth day of that month, and they finished purifying the temple one week later.

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 show-bread, and its vessels;

Then they went to King Hezekiah and reported, “We have purified all parts of the temple, and the altar where sacrifices are completely burned, and all the items used at the altar, the table on which the priests place the sacred bread, and the things [used at that table].

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.

While Ahaz was our king, he disobeyed what Yahweh had commanded, and he removed from the temple many things [that should be there], but now we have brought them back and placed them in front of the sacred 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.

Early the next morning, King Hezekiah gathered together the city officials, and they went to the [courtyard of the] 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 took with them seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs, and seven male goats to be an offering in order that Yahweh would forgive the sins of all the people in the kingdom of Judah, and in order to purify the temple. The king commanded that the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, should offer those animals to be sacrificed to Yahweh on the altar.

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

So first the priests slaughtered those bulls, and took their blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled their 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.

The goats that were slaughtered to be an offering in order that Yahweh would forgive the sins of the people were brought to the king and the others who were there. Then the king and those who were present laid their hands on those goats.

24 And the priests killed 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 slaughtered those goats and splashed their blood on the altar in order that Yahweh would forgive the sins that all the Israeli people had committed. The priests did that because the king had commanded that offerings that would be completely burned [on the altar] and other sacrifices should be made for all the people 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.

The king then told the descendants of Levi to stand in the temple with their cymbals and harps and lyres, obeying what David and his prophets Gad and Nathan had commanded. Those were things that Yahweh had told his prophets that the descendants of Levi should do.

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

So the descendants of Levi [went and] stood in the temple, ready to play the musical instruments that King David had given to them. And the priests were ready to blow 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 told some of the priests to burn the animals that would be sacrificed on the altar. When they started to burn the animals, the people started to sing to [praise] Yahweh, while the other descendants of Levi were playing their instruments.

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 who were there bowed to worship Yahweh, while the singers sang and the trumpeters blew their trumpets. They continued to do this until they had finished slaughtering all the animals that would be completely burned.

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

When they finished making those offerings, the king and all those who were there knelt down and worshiped Yahweh.

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 commanded the descendants of Levi to praise Yahweh, singing the songs [composed/written] by David and Asaph the prophet. So they sang songs joyfully and bowed their heads to worship.

31 Then Ezekias answered and said, Now you 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 said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to Yahweh. So come close to the temple and bring animals to be sacrificed and other offerings to thank [Yahweh for what he has done for you].” And those who wanted to bring animals to be completely burned [on the altar] brought them.

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.

Altogether they brought 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 male lambs to be completely burned on the altar.

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

The other animals that they brought were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep and goats that were set apart to be sacrifices.

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.

But there were not enough priests to remove the skins from the animals that would be completely burned [on the altar]. So their fellow descendants of Levi helped them until that work was finished, and until other priests had purified/consecrated themselves to do that work. It was necessary for them to do that because many of the priests had not yet performed the rituals to consecrate themselves for that work, like the descendants of Levi had done.

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.

In addition to the all the offerings that were completely burned [on the altar], the priests also burned the fat of the other animals that were sacrificed to maintain good fellowship with Yahweh, and the usual wine offerings. So the worship at the temple began again.

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

And Hezekiah and all the other people of Judah celebrated, because God had enabled them to do all those things very quickly.