1
Hizkiyahu began to reign when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim: and his mother's name was Aviyah, the daughter of Zekharyah.
2
He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
3
He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
4
He brought in the Kohanim and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east,
5
and said to them, Hear me, you Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6
For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.
7
Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Yisra'el.
8
Therefore the wrath of the LORD was on Yehudah and Yerushalayim, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes.
9
For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10
Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
11
My sons, don't be negligent now; for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, and burn incense.