2 Chronicles 29:5-11

New American Standard Bible

Reforms Begun

⁵ Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. ^(A)Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have abandoned Him and ^(B)turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have ^[a]turned their backs. ⁷ They have also ^(C)shut the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore ^(D)the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of ^(E)hissing, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ For behold, ^(F)our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this. ¹⁰ Now it is in my heart ^(G)to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that His burning anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now, for ^(H)the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”