Hezekiah began to reign when he was 25 years old, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his father had done.
Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh and repaired them.
He brought the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the public square on the east
and said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites! Now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of Yahweh the God of your fathers, and remove the filth out of the holy place.
For our fathers were unfaithful and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh, and turned their backs on him.
Also they have closed the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
Therefore the wrath of Yahweh was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of terror, of horror, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes.
For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity because of this.
Now it is in my heart to cut a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger turns away from us.
My sons, do not be negligent now, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and to be his servants and burn incense.”
Then 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, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;
and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
They gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves, and went to cleanse the house of Yahweh according to the commandment of the king by the words of Yahweh.
The priests went in to the inner part of the house of Yahweh to cleanse it, and brought all the uncleanness that they found in the Temple of Yahweh out into the court of the house of Yahweh. The Levites took it and carried it outside to the Kidron Valley.
Now they began to make the Temple holy on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of Yahweh, and then they sanctified the house of Yahweh in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished the work.
Then they went inside the palace to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the Bread of the Presence with all its utensils.
And we have prepared and made holy all the utensils that King Ahaz neglected during his reign when he was unfaithful, and behold, they are in front of the altar of Yahweh.”
Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship
Then Hezekiah the king got up early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of Yahweh.
They brought seven bulls and seven rams and seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Yahweh.
So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and threw it on the altar, and they killed the rams and threw the blood on the altar, and they also killed the lambs and threw the blood on the altar.
They brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them,
and the priests killed them and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering were to be made for all Israel.
He set the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, with lyres, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; this commandment was from Yahweh by his prophets.
The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests stood with the trumpets.
Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the singing to Yahweh began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel.
The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him kneeled and worshiped.
And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with joy, and they bowed down and worshiped.
Then Hezekiah answered, “Now you have dedicated yourselves to Yahweh. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of Yahweh.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.
The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams and 200 lambs; all of these were for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
The holy offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep.
But the priests were too few and they could not skin all the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished, and until the priests had sanctified themselves, because the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
There was a large number of burnt offerings, along with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of Yahweh was established again.
Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced, because of what God had brought about for the people, for the situation had come about so quickly.