The Divided Kingdom

Then he brought in the cohanim and L'vi'im, assembled them in the open space to the east,

and said to them, "Listen to me, L'vi'im: consecrate yourselves now, consecrate the house of ADONAI the God of your ancestors, and remove the filth from the Holy Place.

For our ancestors acted treacherously, they did what is evil from the perspective of ADONAI our God, they abandoned him, they turned their faces away from where ADONAI lives and turned their backs on him.

They sealed the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps and stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Isra'el.

"Because of this, ADONAI's anger has settled on Y'hudah and Yerushalayim; and he has made them an object of horror, astonishment and mocking - as you can see with your own eyes.

Here, our ancestors have fallen by the sword; and on this account our sons, daughters and wives have gone into captivity.

"Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with ADONAI the God of Isra'el, so that his furious anger will turn away from us.

My sons, now is not a time for being negligent; for you are the ones ADONAI chose to stand before him and serve him as his ministers, offering him incense."

Then the L'vi'im set about the task - Machat the son of 'Amasai and Yo'el the son of 'Azaryahu from the descendants of the K'hati; of the sons of M'rari, Kish the son of 'Avdi and 'Azaryahu the son of Yehallel'el; of the Gershuni, Yo'ach the son of Zimah and 'Eden the son of Yo'ach;

of the descendants of Elitzafan, Shimri and Ye'i'el; of the descendants of Asaf, Z'kharyahu and Matanyahu;

of the descendants of Heman, Yechi'el and Shim'i; and of the descendants of Y'dutun, Sh'ma'yah and 'Uzi'el.

They gathered their kinsmen, consecrated themselves and, in keeping with the king's order and ADONAI's words, went in to cleanse the house of ADONAI.

The cohanim went in to cleanse the inner part of the house of ADONAI; all the unclean things they found in the sanctuary of ADONAI they brought out into the courtyard of the house of ADONAI, where the L'vi'im took and carried them out to Vadi Kidron.

They began consecrating on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the vestibule of ADONAI. Then they consecrated the house of ADONAI in eight more days; so that on the sixteenth day of the first month, they had finished.

Then they went to Hizkiyahu the king in [the palace] and said, "We have cleansed all the house of ADONAI, including the altar for burnt offerings, with all its equipment, and the table for the showbread, with all its equipment.

Moreover, we have reconditioned and consecrated all the articles that King Achaz threw out during his reign, when he was sinning; and they are there, in front of the altar of ADONAI."

Next morning, Hizkiyahu the king got up early, gathered the leading men of the city and went up to the house of ADONAI.

They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Y'hudah; and he ordered the cohanim to offer them on the altar of ADONAI.

After slaughtering the bulls, the cohanim took the blood and splashed it against the altar. Next, they slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood against the altar and also slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood against the altar.

After bringing the male goats for the sin offering close to the king and the assembly and laying their hands on them,

the cohanim slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Isra'el; for the king had ordered that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be for all Isra'el.

He stationed the L'vi'im in the house of ADONAI with cymbals, lyres and lutes, in keeping with the order of David, Gad the king's seer and Natan the prophet; for the mitzvah had come from ADONAI through his prophets.

The L'vi'im stood with the instruments of David and the cohanim with the trumpets.

Hizkiyahu ordered that the burnt offering should be offered on the altar. The moment the burnt offering began, the song of ADONAI also began, accompanied by the trumpets and the instruments of David king of Isra'el.

The whole assembly prostrated themselves, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.