2 Chronicles 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.
2 And he did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father 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.
4 And he brought in the priests and
the Levites, and put them on the east side,
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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 Ilaelel: and
of the sons of Gedsoni, Jodaad the son of Zemmath, and Joadam: these
were the sons of Joacha.
13 And of the sons of Elisaphan;
Zambri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zacharias, and Matthanias:
14 and of the sons of Æman; Jeiel,
and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun; Samaias, and Oziel.
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.
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.
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.
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; 19 and all the vessels which
king Achaz polluted in his reign, in his apostacy, we have prepared and
purified: behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.
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. 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.
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.
23 And they brought the goats for a
sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and laid their hands upon
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-offerings are for all 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. 26 And the
Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the
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.
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. 29 And when they had done
offering it, the king and all that were present
bowed, and worshipped.
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.
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.
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.
33 And the consecrated calves were
six hundred, and the sheep three thousand.
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.
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.
36 And Ezekias and all the people
rejoiced, because God had prepared the people: for the thing was done
suddenly.