1Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old and reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2He did what Yahweh considered right, just like his ancestor David had done.
3In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of Yahweh's temple and repaired them.
4He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them in the open area on the east side.
5He said to them, "Listen to me, Levites! Dedicate yourselves now, and dedicate the temple of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors. Remove the impurities from the holy place.
6Because our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God. They abandoned him, turned their backs on Yahweh's dwelling, and faced away from him.
7They also shut the doors of the temple porch, put out the lamps, and did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
8Because of this, Yahweh's anger was directed at Judah and Jerusalem. He has given them over to be violently attacked, to be a horrifying sight, and a cause for people to hiss in scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.
9Look, our ancestors have been killed by the sword, and our sons, daughters, and wives are being held captive because of this.
10Now I am determined to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.
11My sons, don't be lazy now, because Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and to be his ministers who burn incense."
12Then the Levites stood up: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, from the Kohathite clan; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel, from the Merarite clan; and Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah, from the Gershonite clan;
13and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14From Heman’s sons, there were Jehuel and Shimei. From Jeduthun’s sons, there were Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15They gathered their relatives, made themselves pure, and went in, as the king commanded through Yahweh’s words, to clean Yahweh’s house.
16The priests went into the inner part of Yahweh’s house to clean it and brought out all the unclean things they found in Yahweh’s temple into the courtyard of Yahweh’s house. The Levites took it from there to carry it out to the Kidron brook.
17They began the cleansing on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached Yahweh’s porch. They purified Yahweh’s house in eight days, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18Then they went to King Hezekiah inside the palace and said, “We have cleaned all of Yahweh’s house, including the altar for burnt offerings with all its utensils, and the table for the Bread of the Presence with all its utensils.
19Also, all the items that King Ahaz discarded during his unfaithful reign, we have prepared and made pure. Look, they are in front of Yahweh’s altar.”
20Then King Hezekiah got up early, gathered the city leaders, and went up to Yahweh’s house.
21They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the holy place, and for Judah. He commanded the priests, Aaron’s descendants, to offer them on Yahweh’s altar.
22So they killed the bulls, and the priests collected the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled their blood on the altar.
23They brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and the king and assembly laid their hands on them.
24Then the priests killed them and offered their blood on the altar as a sin offering, to make things right for all Israel; because the king had commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25He stationed the Levites in Yahweh’s house with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, according to the command of David, Gad (the king’s seer), and Nathan the prophet; for the command came from Yahweh through his prophets.
26The Levites stood with David’s musical instruments, and the priests with the trumpets.
27Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, Yahweh’s song also began, along with the trumpets and the musical instruments of David, king of Israel.
28All the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpet players sounded their trumpets. All of this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29When they had finished their offering, the king and everyone present with him bowed down and worshiped.
30Furthermore, King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh using the words of David and Asaph the seer. They sang praises with joy, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
31Then Hezekiah responded, “Now you have dedicated yourselves to Yahweh. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into Yahweh’s house.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who was willing also brought burnt offerings.
32The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were burnt offerings to Yahweh.
33The consecrated animals were six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep.
34However, there were not enough priests to skin all the animals for the burnt offerings. So their fellow Levites helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had purified themselves. The Levites were more eager to purify themselves than the priests were.
35In addition, there were many burnt offerings, along with the fat from the peace offerings and the drink offerings for each burnt offering. In this way, the service of Yahweh’s temple was put in order.
36Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for them, because it happened so quickly.