11. My sons, do not lose any time. You are the ones that the Lord has chosen to burn incense to him and to lead the people in worshipping him.”
12-14. The following Levites were there:From the clan of Kohath, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of AzariahFrom the clan of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of JehallelelFrom the clan of Gershon, Joah son of Zimnah and Eden son of JoahFrom the clan of Elizaphan, Shimri and JeuelFrom the clan of Asaph, Zechariah and MattaniahFrom the clan of Heman, Jehuel and ShimeiFrom the clan of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel
15. These men assembled their fellow-Levites, and they all made themselves ritually clean. Then, as the king had commanded them to do, they began to make the Temple ritually clean, according to the Law of the Lord.; or Then they began to make the Temple ritually clean, as the king, who was acting at the Lord's command, had ordered them to do.
16. The priests went inside the Temple to purify it, and they carried out into the temple courtyard everything that was ritually unclean. From there the Levites took it all outside the city to the valley of the Kidron.
17. The work was begun on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day they had finished it all, including the entrance room to the Temple. Then they worked for the next eight days, until the sixteenth of the month, preparing the Temple for worship.
18. The Levites made the following report to King Hezekiah: “We have completed the ritual purification of the whole Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, the table for the sacred bread, and all their equipment.
19. We have also brought back all the equipment which King Ahaz took away during those years he was unfaithful to God, and we have rededicated it. It is all in front of the Lord's altar.”
20. Without delay King Hezekiah assembled the leading men of the city, and together they went to the Temple.
21. As an offering to take away the sins of the royal family and of the people of Judah and to purify the Temple, they took seven bulls, seven sheep, seven lambs, and seven goats. The king told the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to offer the animals as sacrifices on the altar.
22. The priests killed the bulls first, then the sheep, and then the lambs, and sprinkled the blood of each sacrifice on the altar.
23. Finally they took the goats to the king and to the other worshippers, who laid their hands on them.
24. Then the priests killed the goats and poured their blood on the altar as a sacrifice to take away the sin of all the people, for the king had commanded burnt offerings and sin offerings to be made for all Israel.
25. The king followed the instructions that the Lord had given to King David through Gad, the king's prophet, and through the prophet Nathan; he stationed Levites in the Temple, with harps and cymbals,
26. instruments like those that King David had used. The priests also stood there with trumpets.
27. Hezekiah gave the order for the burnt offering to be presented; and as the offering began, the people sang praise to the Lord, and the musicians began to play the trumpets and all the other instruments.
28. Everyone who was there joined in worship, and the singing and the rest of the music continued until all the sacrifices had been burnt.
29. Then King Hezekiah and all the people knelt down and worshipped God.
30. The king and the leaders of the nation told the Levites to sing to the Lord the songs of praise that were written by David and by Asaph the prophet. So everyone sang with great joy as they knelt and worshipped God.