¹Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

²And he did what was pleasing and right in the eyes of Yahweh, as all that David his father had done.

³He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened wide the doors of the house of Yahweh, and he repaired them.

⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them into the broad place on the east side.

⁵And he said to them, Hear me, Levites: now set yourselves apart, and set apart the house of Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and bring the impurity out of the holy place.

⁶For our fathers acted unfaithfully and did what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh our God; they forsook him, and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of Yahweh, and gave the back of the neck.

⁷Also they shut the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps; they did not make incense smoke, and they did not offer up a burnt offering in the holy place to the God of Israel.

⁸So the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them a horror, a desolation, and a scorn, as you see with your own eyes.

⁹And look, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this.

¹⁰Now it is in my heart to cut a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that the burning of his anger may turn back from us.

¹¹My sons, now do not be negligent, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before his face, to serve him, and to be for him ones who serve and make smoke.

¹²Then the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden son of Joah.

¹³and of the children of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the children of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

¹⁴And of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵They gathered their brothers, set themselves apart, and came in by the command of the king, by the words of Yahweh, to cleanse the house of Yahweh.

¹⁶And the priests went into the inside of the house of Yahweh to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Yahweh into the court of the house of Yahweh; and the Levites received it to carry it out to the wadi of Kidron, outside.

¹⁷They began on the first day of the first month to set apart, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Yahweh; and they set apart the house of Yahweh for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

¹⁸Then they went inside to Hezekiah the king and said, We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, the altar of the burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the row of loaves with all its utensils.

¹⁹And all the utensils that King Ahaz cast off in his reign, in his unfaithfulness, we have made ready and set apart; and look, they are before the face of the altar of Yahweh.

²⁰And Hezekiah the king rose early, gathered the officials of the city, and went up to the house of Yahweh.

²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin-offering for the kingdom, for the sacred place, and for Judah; and he ordered the sons of Aaron, the priests to offer them up on the altar of Yahweh.

²²They slaughtered the cattle, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar; they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; and they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

²³They brought the male goats of the sin offering near before the face of the king and the assembly, and they leaned their hands on them.

²⁴The priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to cover over for all Israel; for the king had said that the burnt offering and the sin offering were for all Israel.

²⁵And he stationed the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, lyres, and harps, by the command of David and Gad, the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the command was by the hand of Yahweh, by the hand of his prophets.

²⁶And the Levites stood with the implements of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

²⁷And Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be offered up on the altar; and at the time the burnt offering began, the song of Yahweh began, with the trumpets, to the accompaniment of the implements of David king of Israel.

²⁸All the assembly were bowing down, the song was being sung, and the trumpets were sounding; all of this lasted until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹And when they had finished offering up, the king and all who were found with him bent the knee and bowed down.

³⁰And Hezekiah the king and the officials ordered the Levites to praise Yahweh with the words of David and Asaph the seer; and they praised to the point of gladness, and bowed their heads, and bowed down.

³¹Hezekiah answered and said, Now you have filled your hand for Yahweh; draw near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings to the house of Yahweh. And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank-offerings, and every one willing of heart brought burnt offerings.

³²And the number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was: seventy cattle, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

³³And the holy things were six hundred cattle and three thousand of the flock.

³⁴Only 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 set themselves apart, for the Levites were more upright of heart in setting themselves apart than the priests.

³⁵And also the burnt offering was in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offering. So the service of the house of Yahweh was established.

³⁶And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, for the word had come about suddenly.