2 Chronicles 29
He Opened the Doors in the First Month of His Reign
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Hezekiah King of Judah
29:1Hezekiah became king at twenty-five years of age, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abba daughter of Zacharias.
29:2He did what was right before the Lord, according to everything David his father had done.
29:3When he was established over his kingdom, in the first month, he opened the doors of the Lord’s house and repaired them.
Purify the House of the Lord
29:4He brought in the priests and Levites and stationed them on the side toward the east.
29:5He said to them, “Listen, Levites! Now purify yourselves and purify the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Cast the uncleanness out of the holy places.
29:6For our fathers departed and did what was evil before the Lord. They abandoned Him, turned their face away from the Lord’s tent, and turned their backs.
29:7They shut the sanctuary’s doors, extinguished the lamps, burned no incense, and brought no burnt offerings in the holy place to Israel’s God.
29:8The Lord became fiercely angry with Judah and Jerusalem and gave them over to terror, disappearance, and hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
29:9Look, your fathers have been struck by the sword, and your sons, daughters, and wives are captive in a land not their own, as they are even now.
29:10In view of these things, it is now in my heart to establish a covenant of the Lord, the God of Israel, and He will turn His furious wrath away from us.
29:11Now do not slacken, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister and be His ministers and burners of incense.”
The Levites Cleanse the House
29:12The Levites rose: Maath son of Amasi and Joel son of Azarias from Kaath’s sons; Kis son of Abdi and Azarias son of Jallelel from Merari’s sons; Joa son of Zemmath and Jodan son of Joacha from the sons of Gedsoni;
29:13Sambri and Iiel from Elisaphan’s sons; Zacharias and Matthanias from Asaph’s sons;
29:14Iiel and Semei from Heman’s sons; Samaias and Oziel from Jeduthun’s sons.
29:15They gathered their brothers and purified themselves according to the king’s command, through the Lord’s ordinance, to cleanse the Lord’s house.
29:16The priests went inside the Lord’s house to purify it. They cast out all the uncleanness found in the Lord’s house into the courtyard of the Lord’s house, and the Levites received it to cast it outside into the Kedron torrent.
29:17They began purifying on the first day, the new moon of the first month. On the eighth day of the month they entered the Lord’s sanctuary. They purified the Lord’s house in eight days and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
29:18They went inside to King Hezekiah and said, “We have purified everything in the Lord’s house: the altar of burnt offering and its articles, and the table of presentation and its articles.
29:19All the articles King Ahaz defiled in his reign through his apostasy we have prepared and purified. Look, they are before the Lord’s altar.”
The Sin Offering for All Israel
29:20King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the city’s rulers, and went up to the Lord’s house.
29:21He brought up seven calves, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for sin, for the kingdom, the holy places, and Israel. He told Aaron’s sons, the priests, to go up onto the Lord’s altar.
29:22They sacrificed the calves, and the priests received the blood and poured it onto the altar. They sacrificed the rams and poured the blood onto the altar. They sacrificed the lambs and poured the blood around the altar.
29:23They brought the male goats for sin before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.
29:24The priests sacrificed them and made propitiation with their blood at the altar, and made propitiation for all Israel, because the king had said, “The burnt offering and the offerings for sin are for all Israel.”
The Song of the Lord Begins
29:25He stationed the Levites in the Lord’s house with cymbals, nablas, and kinyras, according to the command of King David, Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet, for the ordinance came by the Lord’s command through the prophets.
29:26The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests with trumpets.
29:27Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be offered on the altar. When they began offering the burnt offering, they began singing to the Lord, and the trumpets accompanied the instruments of David king of Israel.
29:28The whole assembly worshiped, the psalm singers sang, and the trumpets sounded until the burnt offering was finished.
29:29When they finished offering, the king and everyone present bent down and worshiped.
29:30King Hezekiah and the rulers told the Levites to hymn the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the prophet. They hymned with rejoicing, fell down, and worshiped.
The Sacrifices of the Assembly
29:31Hezekiah answered, “Now you have filled your hands for the Lord. Draw near and bring sacrifices and offerings of praise to the Lord’s house.” The assembly brought sacrifices and offerings of praise to the Lord’s house, and everyone eager in heart brought burnt offerings.
29:32The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy calves, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.
29:33The consecrated animals were six hundred calves and three thousand sheep.
29:34But the priests were few and could not skin the burnt offering. Their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and the priests were purified, for the Levites purified themselves more eagerly than the priests.
29:35The burnt offering was abundant, with the fat for completing the salvation offering and the libations of the burnt offering. Thus the work in the Lord’s house was set right.
29:36Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had prepared for the people, for the matter had happened suddenly.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.