2 Chronicles 29

Hezekiah’s Temple Cleanup & Revival

1 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mama’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

2 He did what was right In the eyes of the Lord, just like his pops David had done.

3 In the very first month of the first year of his rule, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and fixed them up.

4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them in the east plaza.

5 He told them, “Listen to me, Levites! Now make yourselves holy, and make the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, holy. Bring out the filth from the sanctuary.”

6 “For our ancestors curved and did what was whack in the eyes of the Lord our God. They ditched Him, turned their faces from the Lord’s dwelling place, and turned their backs.”

7 “They also locked the doors of the porch and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel."

8 “So the Lord’s anger flared up against Judah and Jerusalem. He made them a terror, a shock, and a joke, as you all can see with your own eyes.”

9 “Look, because of this, our pops got smacked down with the sword, and our sons, daughters, and wives are in captivity.”

10 “Now, I got it in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so His fierce anger can turn away from us.”

11 “My sons, do not be lazy now! Because the Lord chose you to stand before Him to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense for Him.”

12 Then these Levites stepped up: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, from the Kohathites; from the Merarites, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

13 From the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

14 From the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 They gathered their relatives, made themselves holy, and went in, as the king had commanded by the word of the Lord, to clean up the Lord’s temple.

16 The priests went into the inner part of the Lord’s temple to clean it. They brought out all the filth they found in the Lord’s temple to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. Then the Levites took it to carry it out to the Kidron Valley.

17 They started making things holy on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month, they reached the Lord’s porch. So they made the Lord’s temple holy in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month, they finished.

18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and told him, “We cleaned up the whole Lord’s temple, the altar of burnt offering with all its items, and the table of showbread with all its items.”

19 “And all the items that King Ahaz threw out in his rule, when he acted unfaithfully, we restored and made holy again. Look, they are in front of the Lord’s altar.”

Restoring Worship

20 King Hezekiah got up early, gathered the officials of the city, and went up to the Lord’s temple.

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

22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests collected the blood and splashed it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood on the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood on the altar.

23 Then they brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.

24 And the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had commanded the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

25 He stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet, because the command was from the Lord through His prophets.

26 The Levites stood with David’s musical instruments, and the priests with the trumpets.

27 Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began with the trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel.

28 The whole assembly bowed down while the singers sang and the trumpets blew. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

29 When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and prostrated themselves.

30 King Hezekiah and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy and bowed down and worshiped.

31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the Lord’s temple.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings.

32 The number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for burnt offerings to the Lord.

33 And the dedicated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.

34 But the priests were too few, so they could not skin all the burnt offerings. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and until other priests had made themselves holy. Because the Levites were more committed to making themselves holy than the priests.

35 There were also many burnt offerings, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the Lord’s temple was restored.

36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing happened suddenly.