2 Chronicles 29:5

5 and spoke to them there. He said, "You Levites are to consecrate yourselves and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove from the Temple everything that defiles it.

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 first month of the year after Hezekiah became king, he reopened the gates of the Temple and had them repaired.

4 He assembled a group of priests and Levites in the east courtyard of the Temple

5 and spoke to them there. He said, "You Levites are to consecrate yourselves and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove from the Temple everything that defiles it.

6 Our ancestors were unfaithful to the Lord our God and did what was displeasing to him. They abandoned him and turned their backs on the place where he dwells.

7 They closed the doors of the Temple, let the lamps go out, and failed to burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the Temple of the God of Israel.