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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>2 Chronicles 29 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_chronicles/29.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/2_chronicles/29-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > 2 Chronicles 29</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_chronicles/28.htm" title="2 Chronicles 28">◄</a> 2 Chronicles 29 <a href="../2_chronicles/30.htm" title="2 Chronicles 30">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch14029" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn14029" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Hezekiah’s Reforms.</span> <span id="v14029001" class="ver">1</span><a id="ren14029001-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14029001-a">a</a> Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. <span id="v14029002" class="ver">2</span>He did what was right in the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s sight, just as David his father had done. <span id="v14029003" class="ver">3</span>In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house and repaired them.<a id="ren14029003-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14029003-b">b</a> <span id="v14029004" class="ver">4</span>He summoned the priests and Levites, gathering them in the open space to the east, <span id="v14029005" class="ver">5</span>and said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now and sanctify the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of your ancestors, and clean out the filth from the sanctuary. <span id="v14029006" class="ver">6</span>Our ancestors acted treacherously and did what was evil in the eyes of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s dwelling, and turned their backs on him. <span id="v14029007" class="ver">7</span>They also closed the doors of the vestibule, extinguished the lamps, and failed to burn incense and sacrifice burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.<a id="ren14029007-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14029007-c">c</a> <span id="v14029008" class="ver">8</span><a id="ren14029008-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14029008-d">d</a> Therefore the anger of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> has come upon Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of terror, horror, and hissing, as you see with your own eyes. <span id="v14029009" class="ver">9</span>For our ancestors fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives have been taken captive because of this. <span id="v14029010" class="ver">10</span>Now, I intend to make a covenant with the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of Israel, that his burning anger may turn away from us. <span id="v14029011" class="ver">11</span>My sons, do not be negligent any longer, for it is you whom the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> has chosen to stand before him, to minister to him, to be his ministers and to offer incense.”</p> <p><span id="v14029012" class="ver">12</span>Then the Levites arose: Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah, of the Kohathites; of the descendants of Merari: Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallel; of the Gershonites: Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah; <span id="v14029013" class="ver">13</span>of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; <span id="v14029014" class="ver">14</span>of the sons of Heman: Jehuel and Shimei; of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemiah and Uzziel. <span id="v14029015" class="ver">15</span>They gathered their kinfolk together and sanctified themselves; then they came as the king had ordered, in keeping with the words of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, to cleanse the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house.</p> <p><span id="v14029016" class="ver">16</span>The priests entered the interior of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house to cleanse it. Whatever they found in the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s temple that was unclean they brought out to the court of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house, where the Levites took it from them and carried it out to the Wadi Kidron. <span id="v14029017" class="ver">17</span>They began the work of consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the vestibule of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>; they consecrated the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house over an eight-day period, and on the sixteenth day of the first month, they had finished.</p> <p><span id="v14029018" class="ver">18</span>Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said: “We have cleansed the entire house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the altar for burnt offerings with all its utensils, and the table for the showbread with all its utensils. <span id="v14029019" class="ver">19</span>We have restored and consecrated all the articles which King Ahaz had thrown away during his reign because of his treachery; they are now before the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s altar.”</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">The Rite of Expiation.</span> <span id="v14029020" class="ver">20</span>Then King Hezekiah hastened to convoke the princes of the city and went up to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house. <span id="v14029021" class="ver">21</span>Seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats were presented as a purification offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Hezekiah ordered the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. <span id="v14029022" class="ver">22</span>They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests collected the blood and splashed it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood on the altar. <span id="v14029023" class="ver">23</span>Then the he-goats for the purification offering were led before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands upon them. <span id="v14029024" class="ver">24</span>The priests then slaughtered them and offered their blood on the altar to atone for the sin of all Israel. For the king had said, “The burnt offering and the purification offering are for all Israel.”</p> <p><span id="v14029025" class="ver">25</span>He stationed the Levites in the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for this command was from the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> through his prophets. <span id="v14029026" class="ver">26</span>The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. <span id="v14029027" class="ver">27</span>Then Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be sacrificed on the altar. At the very moment the burnt offering began, they also began the song of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel. <span id="v14029028" class="ver">28</span>The entire assembly bowed down, and the song was sung and the trumpets sounded until the burnt offering had been completed. <span id="v14029029" class="ver">29</span>Once the burnt offering was completed, the king and all who were with him knelt and worshiped. <span id="v14029030" class="ver">30</span>King Hezekiah and the princes then told the Levites to sing the praises of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises till their joy was full, then fell down and worshiped.</p> <p><span id="v14029031" class="ver">31</span>Hezekiah then said: “You have dedicated yourselves to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. Approach, and bring forward the sacrifices and thank offerings for the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>.” Then the assembly brought forward the sacrifices and thank offerings and all their voluntary burnt offerings. <span id="v14029032" class="ver">32</span>The number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought forward was seventy oxen, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all of these as a burnt offering to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. <span id="v14029033" class="ver">33</span>As consecrated gifts there were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. <span id="v14029034" class="ver">34</span>Since there were too few priests to skin all the victims for the burnt offerings, their fellow Levites assisted them until the task was completed and the priests had sanctified themselves. The Levites, in fact, were more careful than the priests to sanctify themselves.<a id="ren14029034-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14029034-e">e</a> <span id="v14029035" class="ver">35</span>The burnt offerings were indeed many, along with the fat of the communion offerings and the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> was re-established. <span id="v14029036" class="ver">36</span>Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had re-established for the people, and at how suddenly this had been done.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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