88IMMERSE•CHRONICLES2C| 29:3-18In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened thedoors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. He summoned thepriests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple. Hesaid to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify theTemple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiledthings from the sanctuary. Our ancestors were unfaithful and did whatwas evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lordand his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him. They also shut thedoors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. Theystopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuaryof the God of Israel.“That is why the Lord’s anger has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem. Hehas made them an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you can see withyour own eyes. Because of this, our fathers have been killed in battle, andour sons and daughters and wives have been captured. But now I will makea covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger willturn away from us. My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer! TheLord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him, and tolead the people in worship and present offerings to him.”Then these Levites got right to work:From the clan of Kohath: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son ofAzariah.From the clan of Merari: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son ofJehallelel.From the clan of Gershon: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.From the family of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel.From the family of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah.From the family of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei.From the family of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.These men called together their fellow Levites, and they all purifiedthemselves. Then they began to cleanse the Temple of the Lord, just asthe king had commanded. They were careful to follow all the Lord’s instructions in their work. The priests went into the sanctuary of the Templeof the Lord to cleanse it, and they took out to the Temple courtyard allthe defiled things they found. From there the Levites carted it all out tothe Kidron Valley.They began the work in early spring, on the first day of the new year,and in eight days they had reached the entry room of the Lord’s Temple.Then they purified the Temple of the Lord itself, which took anothereight days. So the entire task was completed in sixteen days.Then the Levites went to King Hezekiah and gave him this report: “WeImmerseChronicles_NLT.indd 886/21/2017 10:01:34 AM
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