2 Chronicles 29

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah, and she was the daughter of Zechariah.

1Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

NoteThe books of Chronicles cover only the southern kingdom of Judah, ruled from Jerusalem by David's descendants. Hezekiah reigned in the late 700s BC. Judah's records routinely name each king's mother, since the queen mother held a recognized position at court.

2He did what was right in the LORD's sight, just as his forefather David had done.

2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.

NoteDavid lived roughly three centuries before Hezekiah. Hebrew uses "father" for any male ancestor, and the rendering's "forefather" carries that sense. "Did what was right in the LORD's sight" is the standard verdict formula Chronicles applies to each king.

3In the first month of the first year he was king, he opened the doors of the LORD's house and repaired them.

3He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

NoteThe first month is Nisan, falling in our March–April; the Hebrew year began in the spring. "The house of the LORD" is the temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon. Its doors needed opening because Hezekiah's father Ahaz had shut them and stopped the worship there (2 Chronicles 28:24).

4He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the open square on the east side.

4And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,

NotePriests and Levites are not the same office. Priests were the descendants of Aaron, the only men permitted to handle the altar and enter the temple building. Levites were the rest of the tribe of Levi, who did the supporting work: guarding, carrying, cleaning, and, since David's time, the music.

5He said to them, "Listen to me, Levites. Make yourselves clean and set apart for God's service now, and do the same for the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Carry every unclean thing out of the holy place.

5And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.

Note"Unclean" here is a ritual category, not dirt: an object or person could be unfit for use in worship without being physically soiled, and a set procedure (washing, waiting, sacrifice) restored fitness. "Set apart" translates the same Hebrew root, meaning removed from ordinary use and reserved for God. The "holy place" is the main room of the temple building.

6Our fathers were unfaithful. They did what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from the place where the LORD lives, and turned their backs on him.

6For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes 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.

NoteThe temple was spoken of as the place where God dwelled among his people, without implying he was confined there. Turning the back on someone was a deliberate gesture of insult and rejection.

7They also shut the doors of the entrance porch and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

7Also 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 unto the God of Israel.

NoteThe entrance porch was the covered portico across the front of the temple. The lamps are those of the lampstands kept burning inside; incense was burned on a dedicated altar twice daily; and a burnt offering was an animal placed entirely on the altar fire, offered every morning and evening. Stopping all three meant the temple's daily routine had simply ceased.

8So the LORD's anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem, and he handed them over to trouble, to horror, and to mocking, as you can see with your own eyes.

8Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

Note"Hissing" in the King James is not a whisper but a sharp intake of breath, the noise people make at a shocking sight. The three words together describe a nation others point at as a warning.

9Look, this is why our fathers have been killed in battle, and why our sons, our daughters, and our wives are prisoners in another land.

9For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

NoteThis refers to the disasters of Ahaz's reign described in 2 Chronicles 28: heavy losses in war with Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel, and large numbers of Judeans carried off as captives.

10Now I have decided to make an agreement with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his burning anger will turn away from us.

10Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement with stated terms and obligations, of the kind made between a ruler and his people or between two parties before witnesses, not a private feeling or resolution.

11My sons, do not be careless now. The LORD chose you to stand before him, to serve him, to do his work, and to burn incense."

11My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.

Note"My sons" is how a king or elder addressed younger men under his authority; these Levites were not his children. Burning incense was among the duties assigned to Levi's tribe.

12Then the Levites got to work. From the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah. From the Merarites: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehalelel. From the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.

12Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:

NoteKohath, Merari, and Gershon were the three sons of Levi, and their descendants formed the three main divisions of the tribe, each with assigned duties going back to the wilderness period.

13From the family of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel. From the family of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah.

13And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah:

NoteElizaphan was head of a Kohathite family (Numbers 3:30). Asaph was one of the three chief musicians David appointed for the sanctuary; "the sons of Asaph" means the guild of singers descended from him.

14From the family of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei. From the family of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

14And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel.

NoteHeman and Jeduthun, like Asaph, headed the families of temple singers David established. Naming men from all these lines shows every branch of the Levites took part.

15They gathered their relatives and made themselves clean and set apart for God's service. Then they came to clean out the house of the LORD, following the king's command, which came from the words of the LORD.

15And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

16The priests went into the inner part of the LORD's house to clean it. They brought every unclean thing they found in the temple out into the courtyard. The Levites picked it all up and carried it away to the Kidron Valley.

16And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and 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, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.

NoteOnly priests could go inside the temple building itself, so they carried the objects out to the courtyard for the Levites to remove. The Kidron is the ravine running along the east side of Jerusalem, outside the city; kings repeatedly used it as the dumping and burning ground for objects removed from the temple.

17They began this work of setting things apart on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the entrance porch of the LORD. They spent eight more days on the LORD's house itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.

17Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

NoteSixteen days in all. Passover fell on the fourteenth day of this same first month, so the work ran two days past it, which is why the Passover in the next chapter is held a month late.

18Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, "We have cleaned the whole house of the LORD: the altar for burnt offerings with all its equipment, and the table for the bread that is set out, with all its equipment.

18Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.

NoteThe altar for burnt offerings stood in the courtyard, outside the building. The "bread that is set out" (the King James "shewbread") was twelve loaves arranged on a table inside the holy place and replaced with fresh loaves each week; the old loaves were eaten by the priests.

19We have also gotten ready and set apart all the objects that King Ahaz threw away while he was king and unfaithful to God. They are now standing in front of the LORD's altar."

19Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.

NoteAhaz was Hezekiah's father and immediate predecessor. He had cut up and removed temple furnishings, remodeled the altar on a foreign pattern, and closed the building (2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28).

20Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city and went up to the house of the LORD.

20Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.

21They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as an offering to pay for sin, for the kingdom, for the holy place, and for Judah. The king told the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the LORD's altar.

21And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew term behind "sin offering" refers to a sacrifice that removes contamination and restores fitness for worship, closer to a purification offering than to a fine paid. Seven of each animal is a number signaling completeness. The three beneficiaries named (kingdom, sanctuary, Judah) cover the royal house, the temple, and the people.

22So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

22So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

NoteSprinkling or splashing blood on the altar was the prescribed action of the ritual; blood was treated as the substance that cleansed the altar and the holy things of accumulated impurity.

23Then they brought the male goats for the sin offering in front of the king and the gathered people, who laid their hands on them.

23And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:

NoteLaying hands on the animal's head was a formal gesture identifying the offerer with the animal, marking it as presented on his behalf. Here the king and the whole assembly do it, so the offering counts for everyone.

24The priests killed the goats and put their blood on the altar as a sin offering, to make things right between God and all Israel. The king had ordered that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.

24And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

NoteThe Hebrew verb behind "atonement" has the sense of wiping clean or covering over. "All Israel" is deliberate: the northern kingdom had just been destroyed by Assyria, and Hezekiah acts for the surviving northern tribes as well as for his own kingdom of Judah.

25He stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, lyres, and harps, as David, Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet had directed. This command had come from the LORD through his prophets.

25And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.

NoteThe instruments are the standard temple set: bronze cymbals, and two sizes of stringed instrument (the King James "psalteries" and "harps"). A "seer" is an older word for a prophet, one who receives visions. Gad and Nathan were both prophets in David's court, some three hundred years earlier.

26So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments, and the priests stood ready with the trumpets.

26And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

NoteThe priests' trumpets were straight silver ones, sounded in pairs at set moments in the ritual, a different instrument from the curved ram's horn.

27Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be presented on the altar. As the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD began too, with the trumpets and the instruments set up by David king of Israel.

27And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.

Note"The song of the LORD" means the set temple psalms sung by the Levite choirs, not a single named song.

28All the gathered people bowed in worship, the singers sang, and the trumpeters played. All of this went on until the burnt offering was finished.

28And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

29When the offerings were done, the king and everyone with him knelt down and worshiped.

29And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.

30King Hezekiah and his officials also told the Levites to sing praise to the LORD using the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

30Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

NoteAsaph headed one of the singing guilds under David; a number of the psalms carry his name in their headings.

31Then Hezekiah said, "Now that you have set yourselves apart for the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD." So the people brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who wanted to give brought burnt offerings.

31Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.

NoteThe King James "consecrated yourselves" translates a Hebrew idiom, "filled your hand," used for formally installing someone in priestly service. Thank offerings were a kind of shared sacrifice: part burned on the altar, part given to the priests, and the rest eaten by the worshipers and their households at the sanctuary. "Of a free heart" means giving voluntarily, beyond what was required.

32The burnt offerings the people brought came to seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All of these were burnt offerings to the LORD.

32And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

33The animals set apart as offerings numbered six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep.

33And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

NoteThese are distinguished from the burnt offerings just listed. Burnt offerings were consumed entirely on the altar; these "consecrated things" were the shared sacrifices, so most of this meat was eaten by the crowd at the festival.

34But there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, so their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was done and until the other priests had made themselves ready for God's service. The Levites had been more careful about this than the priests.

34But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

NoteSkinning the carcass was part of the priests' work at the altar, and the hide went to the officiating priest. The priests who were not yet ready had not completed the washing and waiting required before handling holy things, a shortage of qualified men, not laziness.

35There were also plenty of burnt offerings, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings that went with each burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was put back in order.

35And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.

NoteThe fat around the animal's organs was burned on the altar rather than eaten. A drink offering was a measured quantity of wine poured out beside the altar to accompany a sacrifice; the law fixed how much went with each animal.

36Hezekiah and all the people were glad about what God had done for the people, because it had all happened so quickly.

36And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

Note"Suddenly" here means quickly and unexpectedly, the whole restoration was completed in far less time than such an undertaking would normally require.