Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

2 Chronicles 29

3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he l opened 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 5 and said to them, "Hear me, Levites! Now m consecrate 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 n have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. 7 They also o shut 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 p the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them q an object of horror, of astonishment, r and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 For behold, s our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now t it is in my heart u to 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, v for 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, w Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of x the Kohathites; and of the sons of x Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the x Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of y Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of z Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sons of a Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of b Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers and c consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, d by the words of the Lord, e to cleanse the house of the Lord. 16 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 f the brook Kidron. 17 They began to consecrate g on 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. 18 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. 19 All the utensils h that 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."

  1. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 29:7
    They also shut 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.
    2 Chronicles 28:24
    And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
  2. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 29:15
    They gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.
    2 Chronicles 29:34
    But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished - for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.
    2 Chronicles 35:6
    And slaughter the Passover lamb, and consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.
    1 Chronicles 15:12
    And said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.
    Ezra 6:20
    For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:27
    Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us!
    Ezekiel 8:16
    And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.
  4. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:24
    And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
  5. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 24:18
    And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.
  6. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:25
    The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:8
    And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds.
    Jeremiah 25:9
    Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
    Jeremiah 25:18
    Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day.
    Jeremiah 29:18
    I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.
    Micah 6:16
    For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.
  8. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:5 - 6
    Therefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.
    2 Chronicles 28:8
    The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.
    2 Chronicles 28:17
    For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives.
  9. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 22:7
    David said to Solomon, "My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God.
  10. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 15:12
    And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.
  11. Cross References
    Numbers 3:6
    Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.
    Numbers 8:14
    Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
    Numbers 18:2
    And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.
    Numbers 18:6
    And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting.
  12. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 31:13
    While Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the chief officer of the house of God.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 3:17
    And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.
  14. Cross References
    Numbers 3:17
    And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.
  15. Cross References
    Numbers 3:17
    And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.
  16. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 15:8
    Of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his brothers.
  17. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 6:39
    And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, namely, Asaph the son of Berechiah, son of Shimea.
  18. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 6:33
    These are the men who served and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer the son of Joel, son of Samuel.
  19. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 9:16
    And Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.
  20. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 29:5
    And said to them, "Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.
  21. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 30:12
    The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.
  22. Cross References
    Nehemiah 13:9
    Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
  23. Cross References
    2 Samuel 15:23
    And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.
  24. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 29:3
    In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
  25. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:24
    And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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