Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
(2 Kings 18:1–12)

1Hezekiah began to reigne, when he was fiue and twentie yeere olde, and reigned nine and twentie yeres in Ierusalem: and his mothers name was Abiiah the daughter of Zechariah. 2And hee did vprightly in the sight of the Lorde, according to all that Dauid his father had done.

3He opened the doores of the house of the Lorde in the first yeere, and in the first moneth of his reigne, and repared them. 4And he brought in the Priests and the Leuites, and gathered them into the East streete,

5And said vnto them, Heare me, ye Leuites: sanctifie nowe your selues, and sanctifie the house of the Lorde God of your fathers, and cary forth the filthinesse out of the Sanctuarie. 6For our fathers haue trespassed, and done euill in the eyes of the Lord our God, and haue forsaken him, & turned away their faces from the Tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backes. 7They haue also shut the doores of ye porch, and quenched the lampes, and haue neither burnt incense, nor offred burnt offrings in the Sanctuarie vnto the God of Israel. 8Wherfore the wrath of the Lord hath bin on Iudah and Ierusalem: and he hath made them a scattering, a desolation, and an hissing, as ye see with your eyes. 9For lo, our fathers are fallen by the sword, and our sonnes, and our daughters, and our wiues are in captiuitie for the same cause. 10Now I purpose to make a couenant with the Lord God of Israel, that he may turne away his fierce wrath from vs. 11Now my sonnes, be not deceiued: for the Lorde hath chosen you to stand before him, to serue him, and to be his ministers, and to burne incense.

12Then the Leuites arose, Mahath ye sonne of Amashai, and Ioel the sonne of Azariah of the sonnes of the Kohathites: & of the sonnes of Merari, Kish the sonne of Abdi, & Azariah the sonne of Iehalelel: and of the Gershonites, Ioah the sonne of Zimmah, and Eden the sonne of Ioah: 13And of the sonnes of Elizaphan, Shimri, and Iehiel: and of the sonnes of Asaph, Zechariah, and Mattaniah: 14And of the sonnes of Heman, Iehiel, and Shimei: and of the sonnes of Ieduthun, Shemaiah and Vzziel. 15And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselues and came according to the commaundement of the King, & by the words of the Lord, for to clense the house of the Lord. 16And the Priests went into the inner partes of the house of the Lord, to clense it, & brought out all the vncleannesse that they founde in the Temple of the Lord, into the court of the house of the Lord: and the Leuites tooke it, to cary it out vnto the brooke Kidron. 17They began the first day of the first moneth to sanctifie it, and the eight day of the moneth came they to the porche of the Lorde: so they sanctified the house of the Lorde in eight dayes, and in the sixeteenth day of the first moneth they made an ende. 18Then they went in to Hezekiah ye King, and sayde, We haue clensed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offring, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof: 19And all the vessels which King Ahaz had cast aside when he reigned, and transgressed, haue we prepared and sanctified: and beholde, they are before the altar of the Lord.

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

20And Hezekiah the King rose early, and gathered the princes of the citie, and went vp to the house of the Lord. 21And they brought seuen bullockes, and seuen rammes, and seuen lambes, and seuen hee goates, for a sinne offring for the kingdome, & for the sanctuarie, and for Iudah; he commanded the Priests the sonnes of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22So they slewe the bullockes, & the Priests receiued the blood, and sprinkled it vpon the altar: they slew also the rammes & sprinkled the blood vpon the altar, and they slew the lambes, and they sprinkled the blood vpon the altar. 23Then they brought the hee goates for the sinne offring before the King and the Congregation, and they layde their hands vpon them. 24And the Priests slewe them, and with the blood of them they clensed the altar to reconcile all Israel: for the King had commanded for all Israel the burnt offring and the sinne offring.

25He appointed also the Leuites in the house of the Lord with cymbales, with violes, and with harpes, according to the commaundement of Dauid, and Gad the Kings Seer, and Nathan the Prophet: for the commaundement was by the hande of the Lorde, and by the hande of his Prophets. 26And the Leuites stood with the instrumets of Dauid, and the Priests with the trumpets. 27And Hezekiah commaunded to offer the burnt offring vpon the altar: and when the burnt offring began, the song of the Lorde beganne with the trumpets, and the instruments of Dauid King of Israel. 28And al the Congregation worshipped, singing a song, and they blew the trumpets: all this continued vntill the burnt offring was finished.

29And when they had made an ende of offring, the King and all that were present with him, bowed themselues, and worshipped. 30Then Hezekiah the King and the princes commaunded the Leuites to prayse the Lorde with the wordes of Dauid, and of Asaph the Seer. so they praysed with ioy, and they bowed themselues, and worshipped.

31And Hezekiah spake, and sayde, Now ye haue consecrate your selues to the Lord: come neere and bring the sacrifices and offerings of prayse into the house of the Lord; the Congregation brought sacrifices; and offrings of prayses, and euery man that was willing in heart, offred burnt offrings. 32And the nomber of the burnt offrings, which the Congregation brought, was seuentie bullockes, an hundreth rammes, and two hundreth lambes: all these were for a burnt offring to the Lord: 33And for sanctification sixe hundreth bullockes, and three thousand sheepe. 34But the Priests were too few, and were not able to flay all the burnt offrings: therefore their brethren the Leuites did helpe them, til they had ended the worke, & vntill other Priests were sanctified: for the Leuites were more vpright in heart to sanctifie themselues, then the Priests. 35And also the burnt offerings were many with the fat of the peace offrings & the drinke offrings for the burnt offring. so the seruice of the house of the Lord was set in order. 36Then Hezekiah reioyced and all the people, that God had made the people so ready: for the thing was done suddenly.