2 Chronicles 29

1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah; she was the daughter of Zechariah.

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 He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, just as David his father had done.

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

3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, Hezekiah opened the doors of the house of Yahweh 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 He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the courtyard 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 He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, and carry away the filthiness from the holy place.

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 ancestors trespassed and did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God; they forsook him, turned away their faces from the place where Yahweh lives, and turned their backs on it.

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 Also they shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps; they did not burn incense or offer 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 Therefore the wrath of Yahweh had fallen on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them to be an object of terror, of horror, and of scorn, as you can see with your own 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 This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this.

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 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away 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 My sons, do not be lazy now, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to worship him, and that you should be his servants and burn incense.”

[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 arose: Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the people of the Kohathites; and of the people of Merari, Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah;

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 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

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

14 of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

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

15 They gathered their brothers, they consecrated themselves, and they went in, as the king commanded, following the words of Yahweh, to cleanse the house of Yahweh.

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 The priests went in to the inner part of the house of Yahweh to cleanse it; they brought out all the filth that they found in the temple of Yahweh into the courtyard of the house. The Levites took it to carry it out to the brook Kidron.

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 Now they began the consecration on the first day of the first month. By the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of Yahweh. Then for eight more days they consecrated the house of Yahweh. On the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

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 Then they went to Hezekiah, the king, inside the palace and said, “We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, the altar for burnt offerings with all its implements, and the table of the bread of the presence, with all its implements.

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 So we have prepared and we have consecrated all the items that King Ahaz removed when he acted unfaithfully during his reign. See, they are in front of the altar of Yahweh.”

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 Then Hezekiah the king rose early in the morning and gathered the leaders of the city; he went up to the house of Yahweh.

Early the next morning, King Hezekiah gathered together the city officials, and they went to the [courtyard of the] temple.

21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Yahweh.

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 So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then they killed the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar; and they also killed the lambs and sprinkled their blood on 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 They brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly; they laid their hands on 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 The priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king had commanded that a burnt offering and a sin offering should be made 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 Hezekiah placed the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, harps, and lyres, arranging them by the command of David, Gad, the king's seer, and Nathan, the prophet, for the command was from Yahweh by means of his 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 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 Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of Yahweh began also, with the trumpets, together with 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 All the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters played; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

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 When they had finished the offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped.

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

30 Moreover, Hezekiah, the king, and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David and of Asaph, the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.

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 Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh. Come here and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of Yahweh.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who had a willing heart brought 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 The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred male lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

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

33 The consecrated offerings were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

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 too few to skin all the burnt offerings, so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was done, and until the priests could consecrate themselves, for the Levites had been more careful to consecrate 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 In addition, there were very many burnt offerings; they were performed with the fat of the fellowship offerings, and there were drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of Yahweh was set in order.

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 Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people also, because of what God had prepared for the people, for the work had been done quickly.

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