Hezekiah began to reign being twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah.
And he said to them, Hear me, Levites, now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filthiness out of the holy place.
For our fathers have sinned and did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the house of Jehovah, and have turned their backs.
Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
And the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites. And of the sons of Merari arose Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel. And of the Gershonites: Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah.
And they gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the command of the king, by the words of Jehovah, to clean the house of Jehovah.
And the priests went into the inner part of the house of Jehovah to clean it. And they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah into the court of the house of Jehovah. And the Levites took it out to the torrent Kidron.
And they began to sanctify on the first of the first month. And on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Jehovah. And they made the house of Jehovah pure in eight days, and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
And they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, We have cleaned all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and the showbread table, and all its vessels.
And we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign cast away in his sin. And behold, they are before the altar of Jehovah.
And they brought seven bulls and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Jehovah.
And they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. And they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood on the altar.
And the priest killed them, and they made atonement with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded the burnt offering and the sin offering to be made for all Israel.
And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with harps, and with lyres, according to the command of David, and of Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet. For the commandment was by the hand of Jehovah by His prophets.
And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of Jehovah began with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.
And Hezekiah the king and the rulers commanded the Levites to sing praise to Jehovah with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
And Hezekiah answered and said, And you have consecrated yourselves to Jehovah. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of Jehovah. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings. And as many as were of a free heart brought burnt offerings.
And the number of the burnt offerings which the congregation brought was seventy oxen, a hundred rams, two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to Jehovah.
But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. And their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves. For the Levites were more upright of heart to make themselves pure than the priests.
And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. And the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order.