Study Desk

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

And he brought in the priests, and the Levites, - and gathered them together in the broadway on the east;

and said unto them, Hear me, O Levites! Now, hallow yourselves, and hallow the house of Yahweh, God of your fathers, and take forth the impure thing out of the holy place.

For our fathers have acted unfaithfully and done the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him,-and have turned round their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and have offered their backs.

Moreover they have shut up the doors of the porch, and have quenched the lamps, and, incense, have they not burned,-and, ascending-sacrifice, have they not caused to go up in the holy place, unto the God of Israel.

Thus hath it come to pass, that, the wrath of Yahweh, hath been upon Judah and Jerusalem, - and he hath delivered them up as a terror and as an astonishment and as hissing, even as, ye, can see with your own eyes.

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

Now, is it near my heart, to solemnise a covenant unto Yahweh, God of Israel, - that he may turn from him the glow of his anger.

My sons! now, do not be faulty, - for, of you, hath Yahweh made choice, to stand before him, and to wait upon him, and to be his attendants and burners of incense.

Then arose the Levites - 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;

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 together their brethren, who hallowed themselves, and came in according to the command of the king, in the things of Yahweh, - to purify the house of Yahweh.

So the priests entered into the inner part of the house of Yahweh, to make purification, and they brought out every unclean thing which they found in the temple of Yahweh, into the court of the house of Yahweh, - where the Levites received it, to carry it forth to the Kidron ravine outside.

And they began, on the first of the first month, to hallow, - and, on the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of Yahweh, so they hallowed the house of Yahweh in eight days, - and, on the sixteenth day of the first month, they finished.

Then came they in unto Hezekiah the king, and said, We have purified all the house of Yahweh, - the altar of ascending-sacrifice, and all the utensils thereof, and the table for setting in array, and all the utensils thereof.

And, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign rejected when he acted unfaithfully, have we made ready and hallowed, - and, there they are, before the altar of Yahweh.