5
and said to them, "Hear me, Levites! Now
1consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.
6
For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They have forsaken him and
2have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs.
7
They also
3shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel.
8
Therefore
4the wrath of the LORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them
5an object of horror, of astonishment,
6and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
9
For behold,
7our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10
Now
8it is in my heart
9to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
11
My sons, do not now be negligent,
10for the LORD has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him."
12
Then the Levites arose,
11Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of
12the Kohathites; and of the sons of
13Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the
14Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah;
13
and of the sons of
15Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of
16Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14
and of the sons of
17Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of
18Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15
They gathered their brothers and
19consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded,
20by the words of the LORD,
21to cleanse the house of the LORD.