Study Desk

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Jehovah and repaired them.

And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and he gathered them to the plaza on the east.

And he said to them, Hear me, O Levites, now consecrate yourselves. And consecrate the house of Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and bring out the uncleanness from the holy place.

For our fathers have acted slyly and did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and they have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the temple of Jehovah, and have given their backs.

And they have shut the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and they have not burned incense, and burnt offering has not ascended in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.

And the wrath of Jehovah is on Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them for a trembling, for a horror, and for 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 exile for this.

Now it is in my heart to cut a covenant with Jehovah, the God of Israel, and the glow of His anger shall turn back from us.

Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for Jehovah has chosen you to stand before His face, to serve Him and to be ministers and incense burners for Him.

And the Levites rose up: 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 Jehalelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah,and Eden the 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 gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves, and came in, according to the commandment of the king in the matters of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah.

And the priests went into the inner part of the house of Jehovah to clean, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah to the court of the house of Jehovah; and the Levites received and took it out tothe torrent Kidron outside.

And they began to sanctify on the first of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Jehovah; and they sanctified the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they hadfinished.

And they came inside to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt offering, and all its vessels, and the table of the Bread of Arrangement, and all its utensils;

and all the utensils that King Ahaz cast aside in his reign, in his treachery, we have prepared and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of Jehovah.