The Divided Kingdom

and bringeth in the priests and the Levites, and gathereth them to the broad place to the east.

And he saith to them, `Hear me, O Levites, now, sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, God of your fathers, and bring out the impurity from the sanctuary,

for our fathers have trespassed, and done that which is evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and forsake him, and turn round their faces from the tabernacle of Jehovah, and give the neck.

`Also--they have shut the doors of the porch, and quench the lamps, and perfume they have not made, and burnt-offering have not caused to ascend in the sanctuary to the God of Israel,

and the wrath of Jehovah is on Judah and Jerusalem, and He giveth them for a trembling, for an astonishment, and for a hissing, as ye are seeing with your eyes.

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

`Now--with my heart--to make a covenant before Jehovah, God of Israel, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from us.

My sons, be not now at rest, for on you hath Jehovah fixed to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be to Him ministering and making perfume.'

And the Levites rise--Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathite; and of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehalelel; and of the Gershonite: Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah;

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

and of the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel--

and they gather their brethren, and sanctify themselves, and come in, according to the command of the king in the matters of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah,

and the priests come in to the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it , and bring out all the uncleanness that they have found in the temple of Jehovah to the court of the house of Jehovah, and the Levites receive it , to take it out to the brook Kidron without.

And they begin on the first of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they have come to the porch of Jehovah, and they sanctify the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they have finished.

And they come in within unto Hezekiah the king, and say, `We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and the table of the arrangement, and all its vessels,

and all the vessels that king Ahaz cast away in his reign--in his trespass--we have prepared and sanctified, and lo, they are before the altar of Jehovah.'

And Hezekiah the king riseth early, and gathereth the heads of the city, and goeth up to the house of Jehovah;

and they bring in seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven young he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah; and he saith to sons of Aaron, the priests, to cause them to ascend on the altar of Jehovah.

And they slaughter the oxen, and the priests receive the blood, and sprinkle on the altar; and they slaughter the rams, and sprinkle the blood on the altar; and they slaughter the lambs, and sprinkle the blood on the altar;

and they bring nigh the he-goats of the sin-offering before the king and the assembly, and they lay their hands upon them;

and the priests slaughter them, and make a sin-offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel, for `For all Israel,' said the king, ` is the burnt-offering and the sin-offering.'

And he appointeth the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, by the command of David, and of Gad, seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet, for by the hand of Jehovah is the command, by the hand of His prophets;

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

And Hezekiah saith to cause the burnt-offering to ascend on the altar; and at the time the burnt-offering began--began the song of Jehovah, and the trumpets, even by the hands of the instruments of David king of Israel.

And all the assembly are doing obeisance, and the singers singing, and the trumpeters blowing; the whole is till the completion of the burnt-offering.