2 Chronicles 29

1 Hezekiah became king when five and twenty years old, and twenty and nine years did he reign in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abiyah, the daughter of Zecharyahu.

Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah]. He ruled from Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of [a man whose name was] Zechariah.

2 And he did what is right in the eyes of the Lord, in accordance with all that David his father had done.

Hezekiah did things that Yahweh considered to be right, like his ancestor King David had done.

3 He it was that in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.

During March of the first year that Hezekiah was ruling Judah, he unlocked the doors of the temple, and his workers repaired them.

4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the open place at the east;

Then he gathered the priests and other descendants of Levi in the area on the east side of the temple,

5 And he said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify yourselves now, and sanctity the house of the Lord the God of your fathers, and carry forth the unclean thing out of the sanctuary.

and he said to them, “You descendants of Levi, listen to me! Consecrate yourselves. And then consecrate the temple of Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors [worshiped/belonged to]. Remove from the temple all the things that are not pleasing to God.

6 For our fathers have dealt faithlessly, and have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him; and they have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs.

Our ancestors disobeyed God; they did many things that he considered to be evil, things that were not pleasing to him. They abandoned this place where Yahweh lives, and they have turned away from him.

7 They had also locked up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and incense have they not burnt, and the burnt-offerings have they not offered in the sanctuary, unto the God of Israel.

They locked the doors of the temple and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn any incense, and they did not offer any sacrifices that were to be completely burned [on the altar].

8 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord is upon Judah and Jerusalem. and he hath rendered them to be a horror, an astonishment, and a hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

Therefore, Yahweh has become very angry with us people of Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah, and he has caused other people to become frightened and horrified [when they hear what Yahweh did to punish us]. And they ridicule us. You know this very well.

9 And, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, and our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this.

That is why our fathers have been killed in battles, and our sons and daughters and our wives have been captured and taken [to other countries].

10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant for the Lord the God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

But now I intend to make an agreement with Yahweh, our God, in order that he will no longer be angry with us.

11 My sons, be not negligent now; for of you hath the Lord made choice to stand before him, to minister unto him, and that ye might be unto him ministers and those that burn incense.

[You who are like] my sons, do not waste any time. [Do immediately what Yahweh wants you to do.] Yahweh has chosen you to stand in his presence and offer sacrifices and burn incense.”

12 Then arose the Levites, Machath the son of 'Amassai, and Joel the son of 'Azaryahu, of the sons of the Kehathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of 'Abdi, and 'Azaryahu the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershunites, Joach the son of Zimmah, and 'Eden the son of Joach:

Then these descendants of Levi started to work [in the temple]: From the descendants of Kohath there were Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah. From the descendants of Merari there were Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel. From the descendants of Gershon there were Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah.

13 And of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri, and Je'iel; and of the sons of Assaph, Zecharyahu and Matthanyahu;

From the descendants of Elizaphan there were Shimri and Jeiel. From the descendants of Asaph there were Zechariah and Mattaniah.

14 And of the sons of Heman, Jechiel and Shim'i; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shema'yah and 'Uzziel;

From the descendants of Heman there were Jehiel and Shimei. From the descendants of Jeduthun there were Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 And they gathered together their brethren, and they sanctified themselves, and came, according to the command of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

When those men had gathered their fellow descendants of Levi and had consecrated themselves, they entered the temple in order to consecrate it. That was what the king had commanded them to do, and they were also obeying what Yahweh had commanded.

16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it; and they brought out every thing unclean which they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; and the Levites received it, to carry it out abroad unto the brook Kidron.

The priests entered the temple to consecrate it. They brought out into the courtyard of the temple everything that they had found in the temple that was not pleasing to Yahweh. Then the descendants of Levi took those things down to the Kidron Valley [and burned them there].

17 And they commenced on the first day of the first month to sanctify; and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of the Lord, and they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

The priests and other descendants of Levi started this work on the first day of March and finished purifying the courtyard [of the temple] on the eighth day of that month, and they finished purifying the temple one week later.

18 Then went they in the inner part [of the palace] to king Hezekiah, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and the table of shewbread, and all its vessels.

Then they went to King Hezekiah and reported, “We have purified all parts of the temple, and the altar where sacrifices are completely burned, and all the items used at the altar, the table on which the priests place the sacred bread, and the things [used at that table].

19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Achaz had cast aside during his reign in his faithlessness, have we put in order and sanctified: and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.

While Ahaz was our king, he disobeyed what Yahweh had commanded, and he removed from the temple many things [that should be there], but now we have brought them back and placed them in front of the sacred altar.”

20 Then arose king Hezekiah early, and gathered together the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord.

Early the next morning, King Hezekiah gathered together the city officials, and they went to the [courtyard of the] temple.

21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven sheep, and seven he-goats, as a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he ordered the sons of Aaron the priests to offer [them] on the altar of the Lord.

They took with them seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs, and seven male goats to be an offering in order that Yahweh would forgive the sins of all the people in the kingdom of Judah, and in order to purify the temple. The king commanded that the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, should offer those animals to be sacrificed to Yahweh on the altar.

22 So they slaughtered the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar; and they slaughtered the rams, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar; they also slaughtered the sheep, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

So first the priests slaughtered those bulls, and took their blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled their blood on the altar.

23 And they brought near the he-goats of the sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:

The goats that were slaughtered to be an offering in order that Yahweh would forgive the sins of the people were brought to the king and the others who were there. Then the king and those who were present laid their hands on those goats.

24 And the priests slaughtered them, and they made an expiation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel; because for all the people, said the king, should be the burnt-offering and the sin-offering.

Then the priests slaughtered those goats and splashed their blood on the altar in order that Yahweh would forgive the sins that all the Israeli people had committed. The priests did that because the king had commanded that offerings that would be completely burned [on the altar] and other sacrifices should be made for all the people of Israel.

25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the command of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: because from the Lord was this commandment by means of his prophets.

The king then told the descendants of Levi to stand in the temple with their cymbals and harps and lyres, obeying what David and his prophets Gad and Nathan had commanded. Those were things that Yahweh had told his prophets that the descendants of Levi should do.

26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

So the descendants of Levi [went and] stood in the temple, ready to play the musical instruments that King David had given to them. And the priests were ready to blow their trumpets.

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

Then Hezekiah told some of the priests to burn the animals that would be sacrificed on the altar. When they started to burn the animals, the people started to sing to [praise] Yahweh, while the other descendants of Levi were playing their instruments.

28 And all the assembly prostrated themselves, and the song sounded, and the trumpeters blew; all this [continued] until the burnt-offering was completed.

All the people who were there bowed to worship Yahweh, while the singers sang and the trumpeters blew their trumpets. They continued to do this until they had finished slaughtering all the animals that would be completely burned.

29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him kneeled down and prostrated themselves.

When they finished making those offerings, the king and all those who were there knelt down and worshiped Yahweh.

30 And king Hezekiah and the princes then said to the Levites to sing praises unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Assaph the seer. And they sang praises with great joy, and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.

Then King Hezekiah and his officials commanded the descendants of Levi to praise Yahweh, singing the songs [composed/written] by David and Asaph the prophet. So they sang songs joyfully and bowed their heads to worship.

31 Then commenced Hezekiah, and said, Now have ye consecrated yourselves unto the Lord: come near and bring sacrifices and thanksgiving-offerings unto the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thanksgiving-offerings, and every one who was liberal of heart, burnt-offerings.

Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to Yahweh. So come close to the temple and bring animals to be sacrificed and other offerings to thank [Yahweh for what he has done for you].” And those who wanted to bring animals to be completely burned [on the altar] brought them.

32 And the number of the burnt-offerings, which the assembly brought, was seventy bullocks, one hundred rams, [and] two hundred sheep: as a burnt-offering unto the Lord were all these.

Altogether they brought 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 male lambs to be completely burned on the altar.

33 And the hallowed sacrifices were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

The other animals that they brought were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep and goats that were set apart to be sacrifices.

34 Only the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt-offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites assisted them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests could sanctify themselves, for the Levites were of upright heart to sanctify themselves more than the priests.

But there were not enough priests to remove the skins from the animals that would be completely burned [on the altar]. So their fellow descendants of Levi helped them until that work was finished, and until other priests had purified/consecrated themselves to do that work. It was necessary for them to do that because many of the priests had not yet performed the rituals to consecrate themselves for that work, like the descendants of Levi had done.

35 But there were also burnt-offerings in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and the drink-offerings for the burnt-offerings. So was [again] established the service of the house of the Lord.

In addition to the all the offerings that were completely burned [on the altar], the priests also burned the fat of the other animals that were sacrificed to maintain good fellowship with Yahweh, and the usual wine offerings. So the worship at the temple began again.

36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, with all the people, over that which God had prepared for the people; because the thing occurred suddenly.

And Hezekiah and all the other people of Judah celebrated, because God had enabled them to do all those things very quickly.