2 Chronicles 29:5

5 He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary.

2 Chronicles 29:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 29:5

And said unto them, hear me, ye Levites; sanctify yourselves,
&c.] By washing their bodies and their garments, that no pollution might attend them in their service, see ( Isaiah 52:11 )

and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers;
by carrying out of it all manner of uncleanness, as they did, ( 2 Chronicles 29:16 ) ,

and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place;
or the abomination; the altar, like that at Damascus, which Ahaz, removing the altar of the Lord, had placed in the court of the priests; or, as Kimchi thinks, an idol, which he had set upon that altar.

2 Chronicles 29:5 In-Context

3 In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the LORD and repaired them.

4 He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple.

5 He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary.

6 Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned the LORD and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him.

7 They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.