The macarthur study bibl.., p.215
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, page 215
9“For indeed, because of this jour fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity.
10“Now it is in my heart to make ka covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11“My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has lchosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”
12Then these Levites arose: mMahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the nKohathites; of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;
13of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15And they gathered their brethren, osanctified4 themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king, at the words of the LORD, pto cleanse the house of the LORD.
16Then the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and brought out all the debris that they found in the temple of the LORD to the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it out and carried it to the Brook qKidron.
17Now they began to 5sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.
18Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offerings with all its articles, and the table of the showbread with all its articles.
19“Moreover all the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had rcast aside in his transgression we have prepared and 6sanctified; and there they are, before the altar of the LORD.”
Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship
20Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.
21And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a ssin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
22So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and tsprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
23Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their uhands on them.
24And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering vto make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.
25wAnd he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, xaccording to the commandment of David, of yGad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; zfor thus was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets.
26The Levites stood with the instruments aof David, and the priests with bthe trumpets.
27Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, cthe song of the LORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel.
28So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29And when they had finished offering, dthe king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped.
30Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
31Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near, and bring sacrifices and ethank offerings into the house of the LORD.” So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a fwilling heart brought burnt offerings.
32And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.
33The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.
34But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings; therefore gtheir brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had 7sanctified themselves, hfor the Levites were imore diligent in jsanctifying themselves than the priests.
35Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with kthe fat of the peace offerings and with lthe drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.
36Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.
2 Chronicles 30
Hezekiah Keeps the Passover
1And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel.
2For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second amonth.
3For they could not keep it bat 1the regular time, cbecause a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem.
4And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly.
5So they 2resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.
6Then the drunners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, ereturn to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of fthe kings of gAssyria.
7“And do not be hlike your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, so that He igave them up to jdesolation, as you see.
8“Now do not be kstiff-necked,3 as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, lthat the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you.
9“For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with mcompassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is ngracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you oreturn to Him.”
10So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but pthey laughed at them and mocked them.
11Nevertheless qsome from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12Also rthe hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, sat the word of the LORD.
13Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of tUnleavened Bread in the second month.
14They arose and took away the ualtars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook vKidron.
15Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites 4were washamed, and 5sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
16They stood in their xplace 6according to their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites.
17For there were many in the assembly who had not 7sanctified themselves; ytherefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the LORD.
18For a multitude of the people, zmany from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, ayet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone
19“who bprepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
20And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
21So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept cthe Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing to the LORD, accompanied by loud instruments.
22And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites dwho taught the good knowledge of the LORD; and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and emaking confession to the LORD God of their fathers.
23Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast fanother seven days, and they kept it another seven days with gladness.
24For Hezekiah king of Judah ggave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests hsanctified8 themselves.
25The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and Levites, all the assembly that came from Israel, the sojourners iwho came from the land of Israel, and those who dwelt in Judah.
26So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of jSolomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.
27Then the priests, the Levites, arose and kblessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to lHis holy dwelling place, to heaven.
2 Chronicles 31
The Reforms of Hezekiah
(2 Kin. 18:4)
1Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and abroke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the 1high places and the altars—from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh—until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.
2And Hezekiah appointed bthe divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and Levites cfor burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the 2camp of the LORD.
3The king also appointed a 3portion of his dpossessions4 for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts, as it is written in the eLaw of the LORD.
4Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute fsupport5 for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to gthe Law of the LORD.
5As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance hthe firstfruits of grain and wine, oil and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the itithe of everything.
6And the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and sheep; also the jtithe of holy things which were consecrated to the LORD their God they laid in heaps.
7In the third month they began laying them in heaps, and they finished in the seventh month.
8And when Hezekiah and the leaders came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and His people Israel.
9Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.
10And Azariah the chief priest, from the khouse of Zadok, answered him and said, l“Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left, for the LORD has blessed His people; and what is left is this great mabundance.”
11Now Hezekiah commanded them to prepare nrooms6 in the house of the LORD, and they prepared them.
12Then they faithfully brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things; oCononiah the Levite had charge of them, and Shimei his brother was the next.
13Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the pruler of the house of God.
14Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the East Gate, was over the qfreewill offerings to God, to distribute the offerings of the LORD and the most holy things.
15And under him were rEden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, his faithful assistants in sthe cities of the priests, to distribute tallotments to their brethren by divisions, to the great as well as the small.
16Besides those males from three years old and up who were written in the genealogy, they distributed to everyone who entered the house of the LORD his daily portion for the work of his service, by his division,
17and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father’s house, and to the Levites ufrom twenty years old and up according to their work, by their divisions,
18and to all who were written in the genealogy—their little ones and their wives, their sons and daughters, the whole company of them—for in their faithfulness they 7sanctified themselves in holiness.
19Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in vthe fields of the common-lands of their cities, in every single city, there were men who were wdesignated by name to distribute portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were listed by genealogies among the Levites.
20Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he xdid what was good and right and true before the LORD his God.
21And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he yprospered.
2 Chronicles 32
Sennacherib Boasts Against the LORD
(2 Kin. 18:13—19:34; Is. 36:1–22)
1After athese deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.
2And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem,
3he consulted with his leaders and 1commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him.
4Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the bsprings and the brook that ran through the land, saying, “Why should the 2kings of Assyria come and find much water?”
5And che strengthened himself, dbuilt up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired 3the eMillo in the City of David, and made 4weapons and shields in abundance.
6Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and fgave them encouragement, saying,
7g“Be strong and courageous; hdo not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for ithere are more with us than with him.
8“With him is an jarm of flesh; but kwith us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
9lAfter this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying,
10m“Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: ‘In what do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem?
11‘Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, n“The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”?
12o‘Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on pit”?
13‘Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? qWere the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand?
14‘Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my rhand?
15‘Now therefore, sdo not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’ ”
16Furthermore, his servants spoke against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah.
17He also wrote letters to revile the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, t“As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my uhand.”
18vThen they called out with a loud voice in 5Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them, that they might take the city.
19And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth—wthe work of men’s hands.
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
(2 Kin. 19:35–37)
20xNow because of this King Hezekiah and ythe prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven.
21zThen the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned ashamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there.
22Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and 6guided them on every side.
23And many brought gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem, and bpresents7 to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was cexalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.
