2 Chronicles 29

Wycliffe Bible

29 And Hezekiah began to reign, when he was of five and twenty years, and he reigned in Jerusalem nine and twenty years (And Hezekiah began to reign, when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years); the name of his mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

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

³ In 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;

⁴ and he brought (in) the priests, and deacons (and the Levites), and he gathered them together into the east street,

⁵ and 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. (and said to them, Sons of Levi/Levites, listen ye to me, and be ye consecrated, or purified, now; and cleanse ye the House of the Lord God of your fathers; and do ye away all uncleanness from the sanctuary.)

⁶ Our 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 (and they turned their backs on him).

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

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

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

¹⁰ Now 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. (And so now it pleaseth me, that we make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he turn away the strong vengeance of his anger from us.)

¹¹ My 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.

¹² Therefore the deacons rose up (And so the 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;

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

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

¹⁵ And they gathered together their brethren, and they were hallowed (And they gathered their kinsmen together, and they were consecrated, or were purified); and (then) they entered by the commandment of the king, and by [the] commandment of the Lord, for to cleanse the house of the Lord.

¹⁶ Also [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(to) the porch, either large place, of the house of the Lord; which uncleanness the deacons took, and they bare it out to the strand of Kidron withoutforth. (And the priests entered into the Temple of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the unclean things, that they found there, into the courtyard of the House of the Lord; and then the Levites took away these unclean things, and they carried them to the Kidron Stream/to the Kidron Gorge.)

¹⁷ Soothly 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. (And they began to cleanse it on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the same month they reached the vestibule of the House of the Lord, and then they cleansed the Temple for eight days; and on the sixteenth day of the same month, they finished what they had begun.)

¹⁸ And 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, (And they came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, We have cleansed all the House of the Lord, and also the table for the loaves of proposition, or the loaves of setting forth, with all its vessels,)

¹⁹ and all the purtenance of the temple, that king Ahaz had defouled in his realm (that King Ahaz had defiled during his reign), after that he brake the law; and lo! all things be set forth before the altar of the Lord.

²⁰ And 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; (And King Hezekiah rose up in the morning, and he gathered together all the leaders of the city, and he went to the House of the Lord;)

²¹ and 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 they offered seven bulls, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven goat bucks as a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah). And he said to [the] priests, the sons of Aaron, that they should offer sacrifices on the altar of the Lord.

²² Therefore they killed (the) bulls, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; also they killed (the) rams, and they poured the blood of those upon the altar; and they (also) offered (the) lambs, and they poured the blood upon the altar.

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

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

²⁵ Also he ordained deacons in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps (And he ordained Levites in the House of the Lord, with cymbals, and lutes, and harps), by the ordinance of David the king, and of Gad, the prophet, and of Nathan, the prophet; for it was the commandment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets.

²⁶ And the deacons stood, and held the organs of David; and priests held [the] trumps. (And the Levites stood ready with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.)

²⁷ And 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. (And Hezekiah commanded, that they should offer burnt sacrifices upon the altar; and when the burnt sacrifices were offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to sound with the trumpets, and the other instruments, which David, the king of Israel, had made to sound with.)

²⁸ Forsooth 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 (the singers sang, and those who had the trumpets blew them, until the burnt sacrifice was finished).

²⁹ And when the offering was ended, the king was bowed down, and all that were with him (the king bowed down, and all who were with him), and they worshipped God.

³⁰ And Hezekiah and the princes commanded to the deacons, 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. (And Hezekiah and his leaders commanded to the Levites, that they should praise the Lord with the words of David, and with those of the prophet Asaph; and so they praised him with great gladness, and kneeled, and worshipped.)

³¹ Soothly Hezekiah added also these things, (and said,) 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. (And Hezekiah added these things, and said, Ye have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; now come ye, and offer sacrifices and praises in the House of the Lord. And so with devout soul, all the multitude offered sacrifices, and praises, and burnt sacrifices.)

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

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

³⁴ And 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 their brethren helped them, till the work was [ful]filled, and the priests were hallowed; for the deacons be hallowed by lighter custom than the priests. (And the priests were too few, to be able to draw away, or to flay off, all the skins of the burnt sacrifices; and so their kinsmen the Levites helped them, until the work was finished, and the other priests had consecrated themselves; for more of the Levites had kept themselves purified than had the priests.)

³⁵ Therefore there were full many burnt sacrifices, and inner fatness of peaceable sacrifices, and the moist sacrifices of burnt sacrifices, and thereby the worship of the house of the Lord was (ful)filled. (And so there were a great many burnt sacrifices, as well as the inner fatness of the peace offerings, and the wine sacrifices for all the burnt sacrifices, and by this the service of the House of the Lord was restored.)

³⁶ And Hezekiah was glad, and all the people, for the service of the Lord was fulfilled; for it pleased (them all), that this was done suddenly. (And Hezekiah and all the people were glad, that the service of the House of the Lord had begun again, or was restored; and it pleased them all, that it had all been done so quickly.)