2Chronicles:29-30
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Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old ,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah .
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And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
according to all that his father David had done .
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In the first year of his reign ,
in the first month ,
he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them .
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Then he brought in the priests and the Levites ,
and gathered them in the East Square ,
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and said to them : "
Hear me ,
Levites !
Now sanctify yourselves ,
sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers ,
and carry out the rubbish from the holy place .
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For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God ;
they have forsaken Him ,
have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD ,
and turned their backs on Him .
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They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule ,
put out the lamps ,
and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel .
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Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem ,
and He has given them up to trouble ,
to desolation ,
and to jeering ,
as you see with your eyes .
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For indeed ,
because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword ;
and our sons ,
our daughters ,
and our wives are in captivity .
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Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel ,
that His fierce wrath may turn away from us .
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My sons ,
do not be negligent now ,
for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him ,
to serve Him ,
and that you should minister to Him and burn incense ."
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Then these Levites arose :
Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah ,
of the sons of the Kohathites ;
of the sons of Merari ,
Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel ;
of the Gershonites ,
Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah ;
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of the sons of Elizaphan ,
Shimri and Jeiel ;
of the sons of Asaph ,
Zechariah and Mattaniah ;
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of the sons of Heman ,
Jehiel and Shimei ;
and of the sons of Jeduthun ,
Shemaiah and Uzziel .
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And they gathered their brethren ,
sanctified themselves ,
and went according to the commandment of the king ,
at the words of the LORD ,
to cleanse the house of the LORD .
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Then the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it ,
and brought out all the debris that they found in the temple of the LORD to the court of the house of the LORD .
And the Levites took it out and carried it to the Brook Kidron .
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Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month ,
and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD .
So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days ,
and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished .
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Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said , "
We have cleansed all the house of the LORD ,
the altar of burnt offerings with all its articles ,
and the table of the showbread with all its articles .
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Moreover all the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had cast aside in his transgression we have prepared and sanctified ;
and there they are ,
before the altar of the LORD ."
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Then King Hezekiah rose early ,
gathered the rulers of the city ,
and went up to the house of the LORD .
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And they brought seven bulls ,
seven rams ,
seven lambs ,
and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom ,
for the sanctuary ,
and for Judah .
Then he commanded the priests ,
the sons of Aaron ,
to offer them on the altar of the LORD .
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So they killed the bulls ,
and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar .
Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar .
They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar .
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Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly ,
and they laid their hands on them .
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And the priests killed them ;
and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel ,
for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel .
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And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals ,
with stringed instruments ,
and with harps ,
according to the commandment of David ,
of Gad the king '
s seer ,
and of Nathan the prophet ;
for thus was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets .
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The Levites stood with the instruments of David ,
and the priests with the trumpets .
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Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar .
And when the burnt offering began ,
the song of the LORD also began ,
with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel .
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So all the assembly worshiped ,
the singers sang ,
and the trumpeters sounded ;
all this continued until the burnt offering was finished .
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And when they had finished offering ,
the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped .
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Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer .
So they sang praises with gladness ,
and they bowed their heads and worshiped .
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Then Hezekiah answered and said , "
Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD ,
come near ,
and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD ."
So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings ,
and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings .
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And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls ,
one hundred rams ,
and two hundred lambs ;
all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD .
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The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep .
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But the priests were too few ,
so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings ;
therefore their brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had sanctified themselves ,
for the Levites were more diligent in sanctifying themselves than the priests .
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Also the burnt offerings were in abundance ,
with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering .
So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order .
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Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people ,
since the events took place so suddenly .
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And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah ,
and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh ,
that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem ,
to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel .
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For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month .
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For they could not keep it at the regular time ,
because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves ,
nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem .
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And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly .
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So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel ,
from Beersheba to Dan ,
that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem ,
since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner .
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Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders ,
and spoke according to the command of the king : "
Children of Israel ,
return to the LORD God of Abraham ,
Isaac ,
and Israel ;
then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria .
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And do not be like your fathers and your brethren ,
who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers ,
so that He gave them up to desolation ,
as you see .
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Now do not be stiff-necked ,
as your fathers were ,
but yield yourselves to the LORD ;
and enter His sanctuary ,
which He has sanctified forever ,
and serve the LORD your God ,
that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you .
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For if you return to the LORD ,
your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive ,
so that they may come back to this land ;
for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful ,
and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him ."
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So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh ,
as far as Zebulun ;
but they laughed at them and mocked them .
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Nevertheless some from Asher ,
Manasseh ,
and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem .
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Also the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders ,
at the word of the LORD .
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Now many people ,
a very great assembly ,
gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month .
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They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem ,
and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron .
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Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month .
The priests and the Levites were ashamed ,
and sanctified themselves ,
and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the LORD .
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They stood in their place according to their custom ,
according to the Law of Moses the man of God ;
the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites .
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For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves ;
therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean ,
to sanctify them to the LORD .
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For a multitude of the people ,
many from Ephraim ,
Manasseh ,
Issachar ,
and Zebulun ,
had not cleansed themselves ,
yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written .
But Hezekiah prayed for them ,
saying , "
May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone
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who prepares his heart to seek God ,
the LORD God of his fathers ,
though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary ."
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And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people .
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So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness ;
and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day ,
singing to the LORD ,
accompanied by loud instruments .
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And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD ;
and they ate throughout the feast seven days ,
offering peace offerings and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers .
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Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast another seven days ,
and they kept it another seven days with gladness .
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For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep ,
and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep ;
and a great number of priests sanctified themselves .
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The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced ,
also the priests and Levites ,
all the assembly that came from Israel ,
the sojourners who came from the land of Israel ,
and those who dwelt in Judah .
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So there was great joy in Jerusalem ,
for since the time of Solomon the son of David ,
king of Israel ,
there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem .
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Then the priests ,
the Levites ,
arose and blessed the people ,
and their voice was heard ;
and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place ,
to heaven .
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Now when all this was finished ,
all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces ,
cut down the wooden images ,
and threw down the high places and the altars--from all Judah ,
Benjamin ,
Ephraim ,
and Manasseh--until they had utterly destroyed them all .
Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities ,
every man to his possession .
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