2 Chronicles 31

1 After the festival ended, the Israelis who were there went to all the towns in Judah and smashed the stones/pillars [for worshiping idols], and cut down the poles [for worshiping the goddess] Asherah. They destroyed the shrines on the hilltops and the altars [of Baal] throughout the areas where the tribes of Judah and Benjamin lived, and also in the areas of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. After destroying all of them, they returned to their own towns.

And when all these things were finished, all Israel that were found in the cities of Juda went out, and broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the groves, and tore down the high places and the altars out of all Judea and Benjamin, also of Ephraim and Manasse, till they made an end: and all Israel returned, every one to his inheritance, and to their cities.

2 Hezekiah divided the priests and [other] descendants of Levi into groups. He appointed some of the groups to offer sacrifices that would be completely burned [on the altar] and offerings to maintain fellowship [with Yahweh]. He appointed some groups to do other work at the temple: some to lead the people in their worship, some to thank Yahweh, and some to sing songs to praise to Yahweh at the gates of the temple.

And Ezekias appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites, and the courses of each one according to his ministry, to the priests and to the Levites, for the whole burnt offering, and for the peace-offering, and to praise, and to give thanks, and to minister in the gates, [and] in the courts of the house of the Lord.

3 The king contributed some of his own funds to buy animals that would be sacrificed in the morning and in the evening of each day, and on the Sabbath days, to celebrate the new moons, and during the other feasts, according to what was written in the laws [that Yahweh gave to Moses].

And the king's proportion out of his substance [was appointed] for the whole burnt offerings, the morning and the evening one, and the whole burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the feasts that were ordered in the law of the Lord.

4 Hezekiah told the people living in Jerusalem to give to the priests and the other descendants of Levi the portions [of meat] that should be given to them, in order that they could devote all their time to obeying the laws of Yahweh.

And they told the people who lived in Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be strong in the ministry of the house of the Lord.

5 As soon as he told that to the people, they generously gave the first part of their harvest of grain, and the first part of the new wine [that they produced], and [olive] oil and honey, and of the crops that grew in their fields. They brought [to the temple] a tenth of all their crops.

And as he gave the command, Israel brought abundantly first fruits of corn, and wine, and oil, and honey, and every fruit of the field: and the children of Israel and Juda brought tithes of everything abundantly.

6 The men of Israel and Judah who were living in various towns in Judah also brought a tenth of their cattle and sheep and goats, and a tenth of other things that they had dedicated to Yahweh their God, and they piled all those things in heaps.

And they that lived in the cities of Juda themselves also brought tithes of calves and sheep, and tithes of goats, and consecrated them to the Lord their God, and they brought them and laid them in heaps.

7 They started to do that in May and finished doing it in September.

In the third month the heaps began to be piled, and in the seventh month they were finished.

8 When Hezekiah and his officials saw the heaps, they praised Yahweh and [requested God to] bless the people.

And Ezekias and the princes came and saw the heaps, and blessed the Lord, and his people Israel.

9 But Hezekiah asked the priests and other descendants of Levi, “Why are these heaps of things here?”

Then Ezekias enquired of the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.

10 Then Azariah the [Supreme] Priest, a descendant of Zadok, replied, “Since the time that the people started to bring their offerings to the temple, we have had even more food than we need. This has happened because Yahweh has greatly blessed our fellow Israelis, with the result that all this is left over [after we priests and other descendants of Levi took all that we need]!”

And Azarias the priest, the chief over the house of Sadoc, spoke to him, and said, From the time that the first fruits began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and drunk, and left even abundantly; for the Lord has blessed his people, and we have left to this amount.

11 Then Hezekiah ordered that they should prepare storerooms in the temple. So they did that.

And Ezekias told them yet farther to prepare chambers for the house of the Lord; and they prepared [them],

12 Then they brought into the storerooms all the tithes and offerings and the things dedicated to Yahweh [which the people had brought]. One of the descendants of Levi whose name was Conaniah was in charge of those things, and his [younger] brother Shimei was his assistant.

and they brought there the first fruits and the tithes faithfully: and Chonenias the Levite was superintendent over them, and Semei his brother was next.

13 Those two men supervised Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah while they did the work. They were appointed by King Hezekiah; Azariah was in charge of [everything that was done in] the temple.

and Jeiel, and Ozias, and Naeth, and Asael, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Samachia, and Maath, and Banaias, and his sons, were appointed by Chonenias and Semei his brother, as Ezekias the king, and Azarias who was over the house of the Lord commanded.

14 Kore the son of Imnah, another descendant of Levi, who guarded the east gate of the temple, was in charge of the offerings to God that were made voluntarily. He distributed to the priests and [other] descendants of Levi the offerings and other things that were dedicated to Yahweh.

And Core, the [son] of Jemna the Levite, the porter eastward, [was] over the gifts, to distribute the first fruits of the Lord, and the most holy things,

15 Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah faithfully assisted him in the towns where the priests lived. They distributed those things to the groups of their fellow priests; they distributed them to everyone, from the youngest to the oldest.

by the hand of Odom, and Benjamin, and Jesus, and Semei, and Amarias, and Sechonias, by the hand of the priests faithfully, to give to their brethren according to the courses, as well to great as small;

16 They also distributed things to the males who were at least 30 years old, those whose names were written on the scrolls where lists of family names were written. They were males who [were allowed to] enter the temple to perform their tasks/work each day, the tasks that each group had been assigned to do.

besides the increase of males from three years old and upward, to every one entering into the house of the Lord, [a portion] according to a daily rate, for service in the daily courses of their order.

17 The names of the priests were on the scrolls where their clans’ names were written. They also distributed things to groups of [other] descendants of Levi, those who were at least 20 years old.

This [is] the distribution of the priests according to the houses of their families; and the Levites in their daily courses from twenty years old and upward [were] in [their] order,

18 They included all their little children and wives and other sons and daughters whose names were on the scrolls where their clans’ names were written, because they also faithfully had dedicated themselves to Yahweh.

to assign stations for all the increase of their sons and their daughters, for the whole number: for they faithfully sanctified the holy place.

19 [Hezekiah] also appointed other men to distribute portions of those offerings to the priests and other descendants of Levi who were living in the pasturelands around the towns in Judah. But they gave things only to those who were descendants of Aaron [the first Supreme Priest], whose names were on the scrolls containing the names of their clans.

As for the sons of Aaron that executed the priests' office, —even those from their cities the men in each several city who were named expressly, —[were appointed] to give a portion to every male among the priests, and to every one reckoned among the Levites.

20 That is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He always faithfully did things that Yahweh his God considered to be right and good.

And Ezekias did so through all Juda, and did that which was good and right before the Lord his God.

21 In everything that he did for the worship in the temple, and as he obeyed God’s laws and commands, he tried to find out what his God wanted, and he worked energetically. So he was successful.

And in every work which he began in service in the house of the Lord, and in the law, and in the ordinances, he sought his God with all his soul, and wrought, and prospered.