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Hezekiah
began to reign when he was five and twenty years
old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in
Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the
daughter of Zechariah.
02 And he did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord, according to all that David his
father had done.
03 He in the first year of his reign, in the
first month, opened the doors of the house of the
Lord, and repaired them.
04 And he brought in the priests and the Levites,
and gathered them together into the east street,
05 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites,
sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house
of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth
the filthiness out of the holy place.
06 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that
which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God,
and have forsaken him, and have turned away their
faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned
their backs.
07 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch,
and put out the lamps, and have not burned
incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy
place unto the God of Israel.
08 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah
and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to
trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye
see with your eyes.
09 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword,
and our sons and our daughters and our wives are
in captivity for this.
10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant
with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce
wrath may turn away from us.
11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord
hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve
him, and that ye should minister unto him, and
burn incense.
12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of
Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons
of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari,
Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of
Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son
of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:
13 And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and
Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and
Mattaniah:
14 And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei:
and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and
Uzziel.
15 And they gathered their brethren, and
sanctified themselves, and came, according to the
commandment of the king, by the words of the
Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.
16 And the priests went into the inner part of
the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought
out all the uncleanness that they found in the
temple of the Lord into the court of the house of
the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it
out abroad into the brook Kidron.
17 Now they began on the first day of the first
month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the
month came they to the porch of the Lord: so they
sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days;
and in the sixteenth day of the first month they
made an end.
18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and
said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord,
and the altar of burnt offering, with all the
vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with
all the vessels thereof.
19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in
his reign did cast away in his transgression,
have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold,
they are before the altar of the Lord.
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20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and
gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to
the house of the Lord.
21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven
rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a
sin offering for the kingdom, and for the
sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the
priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the
altar of the Lord.
22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests
received the blood, and sprinkled it on the
altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams,
they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they
killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the
blood upon the altar.
23 And they brought forth the he goats for the
sin offering before the king and the
congregation; and they laid their hands upon
them:
24 And the priests killed them, and they made
reconciliation with their blood upon the altar,
to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king
commanded that the burnt offering and the sin
offering should be made for all Israel.
25 And he set the Levites in the house of the
Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with
harps, according to the commandment of David, and
of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet:
for so was the commandment of the Lord by his
prophets.
26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of
David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt
offering upon the altar. And when the burnt
offering began, the song of the Lord began also
with the trumpets, and with the instruments
ordained by David king of Israel.
28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the
singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all
this continued until the burnt offering was
finished.
29 And when they had made an end of offering, the
king and all that were present with him bowed
themselves, and worshipped.
30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes
commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the
Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the
seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and
they bowed their heads and worshipped.
31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have
consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near
and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the
house of the Lord. And the congregation brought
in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as
were of a free heart burnt offerings.
32 And the number of the burnt offerings, which
the congregation brought, was threescore and ten
bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs:
all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.
33 And the consecrated things were six hundred
oxen and three thousand sheep.
34 But the priests were too few, so that they
could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore
their brethren the Levites did help them, till
the work was ended, and until the other priests
had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were
more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than
the priests.
35 And also the burnt offerings were in
abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings,
and the drink offerings for every burnt offering.
So the service of the house of the Lord was set
in order.
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people,
that God had prepared the people: for the thing
was done suddenly.
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