-
Now when
all this was finished, all Israel that were
present went out to the cities of Judah, and
brake the images in pieces, and cut down the
groves, and threw down the high places and the
altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim
also and Manasseh, until they had utterly
destroyed them all. Then all the children of
Israel returned, every man to his possession,
into their own cities.
02 And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the
priests and the Levites after their courses,
every man according to his service, the priests
and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace
offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and
to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord.
03 He appointed also the king's portion of his
substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for
the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the
burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new
moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written
in the law of the Lord.
04 Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in
Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and
the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the
law of the Lord.
05 And as soon as the commandment came abroad,
the children of Israel brought in abundance the
firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey,
and of all the increase of the field; and the
tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
06 And concerning the children of Israel and
Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they
also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and
the tithe of holy things which were consecrated
unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps.
07 In the third month they began to lay the
foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the
seventh month.
08 And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw
the heaps, they blessed the Lord, and his people
Israel.
09 Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and
the Levites concerning the heaps.
10 And Azariah the chief priest of the house of
Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people
began to bring the offerings into the house of
the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have
left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed his
people; and that which is left is this great
store.
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11 Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in
the house of the Lord; and they prepared them,
12 And brought in the offerings and the tithes
and the dedicated things faithfully: over which
Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his
brother was the next.
13 And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and
Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and
Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were
overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei
his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the
king, and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.
14 And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the
porter toward the east, was over the freewill
offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of
the Lord, and the most holy things.
15 And next him were Eden, and Miniamin, and
Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in
the cities of the priests, in their set office,
to give to their brethren by courses, as well to
the great as to the small:
16 Beside their genealogy of males, from three
years old and upward, even unto every one that
entereth into the house of the Lord, his daily
portion for their service in their charges
according to their courses;
17 Both to the genealogy of the priests by the
house of their fathers, and the Levites from
twenty years old and upward, in their charges by
their courses;
18 And to the genealogy of all their little ones,
their wives, and their sons, and their daughters,
through all the congregation: for in their set
office they sanctified themselves in holiness:
19 Also of the sons of Aaron the priests, which
were in the fields of the suburbs of their
cities, in every several city, the men that were
expressed by name, to give portions to all the
males among the priests, and to all that were
reckoned by genealogies among the Levites.
20 And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah,
and wrought that which was good and right and
truth before the Lord his God.
21 And in every work that he began in the service
of the house of God, and in the law, and in the
commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all
his heart, and prospered.
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