Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he
1opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.
4
He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east
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and said to them, "Hear me, Levites! Now
2consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.
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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
3have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs.
7
They also
4shut 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.
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Therefore
5the wrath of the LORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them
6an object of horror, of astonishment,
7and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
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For behold,
8our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10
Now
9it is in my heart
10to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
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My sons, do not now be negligent,
11for 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,
12Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of
13the Kohathites; and of the sons of
14Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the
15Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah;
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and of the sons of
16Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of
17Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
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and of the sons of
18Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of
19Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
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They gathered their brothers and
20consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded,
21by the words of the LORD,
22to cleanse the house of the LORD.
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The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it and carried it out to
23the brook Kidron.
17
They began to consecrate
24on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the LORD, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.
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Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, "We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils.
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All the utensils
25that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD."