2 Chronicles 29

1 Hezekiah was twenty-five when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

And, Hezekiah, began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and, twenty-nine years, reigned he in Jerusalem, —and, the name of his mother, was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.

2 He did what was right in the Lord's sight, just as his forefather David had done.

And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, —according to all that, David his father, had done.

3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the Lord's Temple and repaired them.

He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, and repaired them.

4 He summoned the priests and the Levites, and had them gather on the square to the east.

And he brought in the priests, and the Levites, —and gathered them together in the broadway on the east;

5 He told them, “Listen to me, Levites. Purify yourselves now and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your forefathers. Take away from the Holy Place everything that is filthy.

and said unto them, Hear me, O Levites! Now, hallow yourselves, and hallow the house of Yahweh, God of your fathers, and take forth the impure thing out of the holy place.

6 For our fathers were sinful, and did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They abandoned him and paid no attention to the Lord's Temple, turning their backs on him.

For our fathers have acted unfaithfully and done the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him, -and have turned round their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and have offered their backs.

7 They shut the doors at the entrance to the Temple and put out the lamps. They didn't burn incense or present burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

Moreover they have shut up the doors of the porch, and have quenched the lamps, and, incense, have they not burned, -and, ascending-sacrifice, have they not caused to go up in the holy place, unto the God of Israel.

8 So the Lord's anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them into something appalling, terrifying, and ridiculous, as you can see for yourselves.

Thus hath it come to pass, that, the wrath of Yahweh, hath been upon Judah and Jerusalem, —and he hath delivered them up as a terror and as an astonishment and as hissing, even as, ye, can see with your own eyes.

9 As a result, our fathers have died in battle, and our sons and our daughters and our wives have been captured.

And lo! our fathers have fallen by the sword, and, our sons and our daughters and our wives, are in captivity for this.

10 But now I'm going to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will no longer fall on us.

Now, is it near my heart, to solemnise a covenant unto Yahweh, God of Israel, —that he may turn from him the glow of his anger.

11 My sons, don't neglect your responsibilities, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence to serve him, and to be his ministers presenting burnt offerings.”

My sons! now, do not be faulty, —for, of you, hath Yahweh made choice, to stand before him, and to wait upon him, and to be his attendants and burners of incense.

12 Then the Levites went to work. They were Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah, from the Kohathites; Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallelel, from the Merarites; Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah, from the Gershonites;

Then arose the Levites—Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites, and, of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehallelel, —and, of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah;

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

and, of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel, —and, of 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.

and, of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei, —and, of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah, and Uzziel;

15 They called together the other Levites and all of them purified themselves. Then they went in to clean the Lord's Temple, as the king had commanded, following the instructions as required by the Lord.

and they gathered together their brethren, who hallowed themselves, and came in according to the command of the king, in the things of Yahweh, —to purify the house of Yahweh.

16 The priests went into the inner sanctuary of the Lord's Temple to clean it. They removed all the unclean things that they found in the Lord's Temple and placed them in the Temple courtyard. Then the Levites took them out and carried them to the Kidron Valley.

So the priests entered into the inner part of the house of Yahweh, to make purification, and they brought out every unclean thing which they found in the temple of Yahweh, into the court of the house of Yahweh, —where the Levites received it, to carry it forth to the Kidron ravine outside.

17 They started the work of purification on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they had reached the Temple porch. For eight more days they worked on purifying the Temple itself, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

And they began, on the first of the first month, to hallow, —and, on the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of Yahweh, so they hallowed the house of Yahweh in eight days, —and, on the sixteenth day of the first month, they finished.

18 Then they went in to tell King Hezekiah, “We have cleaned the entire Temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all its utensils.

Then came they in unto Hezekiah the king, and said, We have purified all the house of Yahweh, —the altar of ascending-sacrifice, and all the utensils thereof, and the table for setting in array, and all the utensils thereof.

19 We have recovered and purified all the items that King Ahaz threw away during his reign when he was unfaithful. They are now before the Lord's altar.”

And, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign rejected when he acted unfaithfully, have we made ready and hallowed, —and, there they are, before the altar of Yahweh.

20 King Hezekiah got up early, summoned the city officials, and went to the Lord's Temple.

So Hezekiah the king rose up early, and gathered together the rulers of the city, —and went up to the house of Yahweh.

21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. The king ordered the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

And they brought in seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven young sheep, and seven he-goats for bearing sin, for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah, —and he bade the sons of Aaron, the priests, cause them to ascend upon the altar of Yahweh.

22 So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

So they slaughtered the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and dashed it against the altar, —and they slaughtered the rams, and dashed the blood against the altar, and slaughtered the young sheep, and dashed the blood against the altar.

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

And they brought near the he-goats for bearing sin, before the king, and the convocation, —and they leaned their hands upon them;

24 Then the priests killed the goats and placed their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for the whole of Israel, because the king had ordered that the burnt offering and sin offering were for the whole of Israel.

and the priests slaughtered them, and sin-cleansed, with their blood, the altar, to put a propitiatory-covering over all Israel, -because, for all Israel, did the king appoint the ascending-sacrifice and the offering for bearing sin.

25 Hezekiah had the Levites stand in the Lord's Temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres, following the instructions of David, Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet. The instructions had come from the Lord through His prophets.

And he caused the Levites to stand in the house of Yahweh, with cymbals and with harps and with lyres, by the commandment of David, and of Gad the seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet, —for, by the hand of Yahweh, came the commandment by the hand of his prophets.

26 The Levites stood with the musical instruments provided by David, with the priests holding their trumpets.

So the Levites took their stand, with the instruments of David, and the priests, with the trumpets.

27 Then Hezekiah gave the order for the burnt offering to be offered on the altar. As the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began at the same time, the trumpets sounded, and music was played on the instruments of David, once king of Israel.

And Hezekiah gave word, to cause the ascending-sacrifice to go up on the altar, —and, when the ascending-sacrifice began, the singing unto Yahweh began, and the trumpets, even under the direction of the instruments of David, king of Israel.

28 All the people in the assembly were worshiping, the singers were singing, and the trumpeters were playing. This continued until the burnt offering was finished.

And, all the convocation, were bowing themselves in prostration, and, the song, was resounding and the trumpets were blowing, -the whole, until the completing of the ascending-sacrifice.

29 Once the offerings were completed, the king and everyone there with him bowed down and worshiped.

And, when the offering was complete, the king knelt down and all who were present with him, and bowed themselves in prostration.

30 Then King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord using the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed their heads and worshiped.

And Hezekiah the king and the rulers gave word to the Levites, to offer praise unto Yahweh, in the words of David, and of Asaph the seer, —so they offered praise right joyfully, and bent their heads and bowed themselves in prostration.

31 Then Hezekiah told them, “Now that you have dedicated yourselves to the Lord, come and bring your sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord's Temple.” So the people in the assembly brought their sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who wanted to brought burnt offerings.

Then responded Hezekiah and said—Now, have ye consecrated yourselves unto Yahweh. Draw near, and bring in sacrifices and thank-offerings unto the house of Yahweh, -So the convocation brought sacrifices and thank-offerings, and, everyone of a willing heart, [brought] ascending-sacrifices.

32 The total number of burnt offerings they brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were to be a burnt offering to the Lord.

And it came to pass that, the number of ascending-sacrifices which the convocation brought, was—seventy bullocks, and a hundred rams, and two hundred young sheep, —as an ascending-sacrifice unto Yahweh, all these.

33 In addition there were dedicated offerings of six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.

But, the hallowed beasts, were six hundred bullocks, and three thousand sheep.

34 Since there weren't enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite relatives helped them until the work was finished and the priests had been purified. (The Levites had been more conscientious in purifying themselves than the priests had.)

Only, the priests, were too few, and were unable to flay all the ascending-sacrifices, —so their brethren the Levites strengthened them, until the work was complete and until the priests had hallowed themselves, for, the Levites, were more upright in heart to hallow themselves, than the priests.

35 Apart from the large number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the friendship offerings, as well as the drink offerings that went with the burnt offerings. In this way the service of the Lord's Temple was restored.

Moreover also, the ascending-sacrifices, were in abundance, with the fat portions of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-offerings to every ascending-sacrifice, -thus was established the service of the house of Yahweh.

36 Hezekiah and everyone there were so happy at what God done for the people, because everything had been achieved so quickly.

And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because God had established it for the people, —for, suddenly, had the thing come about.