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

2And Hezekiah did that, that was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, by all things that David, his father, had done.

3In that year, and in the first month of his realm, he opened the gates of the house of the Lord, and restored, or repaired, those gates;

4and he brought the priests, and deacons [or Levites], and he gathered them together into the east street,

5and said to them, Sons of Levi, hear ye me, and be ye hallowed; cleanse ye the house of the Lord God of your fathers; and do ye away all uncleanness from the saintuary.

6Our fathers have sinned, and done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and forsook him; they turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord our God, and gave their back.

7They closed the doors that were in the porch, and quenched the lanterns; and they burnt not incense, and they offered not burnt sacrifices in the saintuary of God of Israel.

8Therefore the strong vengeance of the Lord was raised upon Judah and Jerusalem; and he gave them into stirring or moving, or unstableness, and into perishing, and into hissing, either scorning, as ye see with your eyes.

9Lo! our fathers have fallen down by swords; our sons, and our daughters, and our wives be led away as prisoners for this great trespass.

10Now therefore it pleaseth me, that we make a bond of peace with the Lord God of Israel, and that he turn from us the strong vengeance of his wrath.

11My sons, do not ye herein be reckless; the Lord hath chosen you, that ye stand before him, and serve him, that ye praise him, and burn incense to him.

12Therefore the deacons [or Levites] rose up, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah, of the sons of Kohath; and of the sons of Merari, Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehalelel; and of the sons of Gershon, Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joah;

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

14also of the sons of Heman, Jehiel, and Shimei; but also of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah, and Uzziel.

15And they gathered together their brethren, and they were hallowed; and they entered by the commandment of the king, and by [the] commandment of the Lord, for to cleanse the house of the Lord.

16Also [the] priests entered into the temple of the Lord, for to hallow it, and they bare out all the uncleanness, that they found therein in the porch, either large place, of the house of the Lord; which uncleanness the deacons [or Levites] took, and they bare it out to the strand [or stream] of Kidron withoutforth.

17Soothly they began to cleanse in the first day of the first month, and in the eighth day of the same month they entered into the porch of the house of the Lord, and they cleansed the temple eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the same month they [ful] filled that, that they had begun.

18And they entered to Hezekiah, the king, and said to him, We have hallowed, or cleansed, all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt sacrifice thereof, and the vessels thereof, also and the board of setting forth with all his vessels,

19and all the appurtenance of the temple, that king Ahaz had defouled in his realm, after that he brake the law; and lo! all things be set forth before the altar of the Lord.

20And Hezekiah, the king, rose up in the morrowtide, and he gathered together all the princes of the city, and he went up into the house of the Lord;

21and they offered together seven bulls, and seven rams, seven lambs, and seven bucks of goats, for [the] sin, for the realm, for the saintuary, and for Judah. And he said to [the] priests, the sons of Aaron, that they should offer sacrifices on the altar of the Lord.

22Therefore they killed bulls, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; also they killed rams, and they poured the blood of those [or them] upon the altar; and they offered lambs, and they poured the blood upon the altar.

23And they brought [the] bucks of goats for sin before the king and all the multitude, and they setted their hands on those [or them];

24and the priests offered them, and they sprinkled the blood of them before the altar, for the cleansing of all Israel. For the king commanded, that burnt sacrifice should be made for all Israel, and for sin thereof.

25Also he ordained deacons [or Levites] in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, by the ordinance of David the king, and of Gad, the prophet, and of Nathan, the prophet; for it was the command-ment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets.

26And the deacons [or Levites] stood, and held the organs of David; and priests held[the] trumps.

27And Hezekiah commanded, that they should offer burnt sacrifices upon the altar; and when burnt sacrifices were offered, they began to sing praisings to the Lord, and to sound with trumps, and with diverse organs, which David, king of Israel, had made ready to sound with.

28Forsooth when all the company worshipped/And when all the company worshipped the Lord, [the] singers and they that held trumps were in their office, till the burnt sacrifice was filled.

29And when the offering was ended, the king was bowed down, and all that were with him, and they worship-ped God.

30And Hezekiah and the princes commanded to the deacons [or Levites], that they should praise the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph, the prophet; which praised him with great gladness, and kneeled, and worshipped.

31Soothly Hezekiah added also these things, Ye have filled your hands with blessings to the Lord; nigh ye, and offer sacrifices and praisings in the house of the Lord. Therefore all the multitude offered with devout soul sacrifices, and praisings, and burnt sacrifices.

32And this was the number of burnt sacrifices, which the multitude offered; seventy bulls, and an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs.

33Also they hallowed to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.

34And the priests were few, and they might not suffice for to draw, or flay off, the skins of [the] burnt sacrifices; wherefore and the deacons [or Levites] their brethren helped them, till the work was [ful] filled, and the priests were hallowed; for the deacons [or Levites] be hallowed by lighter custom than the priests.

35Therefore there were full many burnt sacrifices, and inner fatness of peaceable sacrifices, and the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of burnt sacrifices, and thereby the worship of the house of the Lord was [ful] filled.

36And Hezekiah was glad, and all the people, for the service of the Lord was fulfilled; for it pleased, that this was done suddenly.