Hezekiah Succeeds Ahaz in Judah

¹Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ² He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.

Reforms Begun

⁵ Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have ^[a]turned their backs. ⁷ They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ For behold, 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 my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”

¹² Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; ¹³ and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and ^[b]Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴ and from the sons of Heman, ^[c]Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵ They assembled their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord. ¹⁶ So the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord they brought out to the court of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to the Kidron ^[d]valley. ¹⁷ Now they began ^[e]the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the porch of the Lord. Then they consecrated the house of the Lord in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month. ¹⁸ Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all of its utensils, and the table of showbread with all of its utensils. ¹⁹ Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz had discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness, we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah arose early and assembled the princes of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. And he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs also and sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³ Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. ²⁴ The priests slaughtered them and purged the altar with their blood to atone for all Israel, for the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

²⁵ He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with harps and with lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets. ²⁶ The Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, ^[f]accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. ²⁸ While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰ Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have ^[g]consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those who were ^[h]willing brought burnt offerings. ³² The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³ The consecrated things were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. ³⁴ But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and until the other priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more ^[i]conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests. ³⁵ There were also ^[j]many burnt offerings with the fat of the peace offerings and with the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was established again. ³⁶ Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.