17. They made the Temple holy for the Lord’s service. They began on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of the Temple. For eight more days they made the Temple of the Lord holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18. Then they went to King Hezekiah. They said to him, “We have purified all the Temple of the Lord. We have purified the altar for burnt offerings and its things. We have purified the table for the holy bread and all its things.
19. When Ahaz was king, he was unfaithful to God. He removed some things from the Temple. But we have put them back and made them holy for the Lord. They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”
20. Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city. They went up to the Temple of the Lord.
21. They brought seven bulls, seven male sheep, seven male lambs and seven male goats. These animals were an offering to remove the sin of the people and the kingdom of Judah. And this offering made the Temple ready for service to God. King Hezekiah commanded the priests to offer these animals on the Lord’s altar. The priests were from the family of Aaron.
22. So the priests killed the bulls. Then they sprinkled the bulls’ blood on the altar. They killed the male sheep and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they killed the lambs. And they sprinkled the lambs’ blood on the altar.
23. Then the priests brought the male goats before the king and the people there. The goats were for the sin offering. The king and the people put their hands on the goats.
24. Then the priests killed the goats. They made a sin offering with the goats’ blood on the altar. They did this to remove the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to the Lord. The king had said that the burnt offering and sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25. King Hezekiah put the Levites in the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres. He did this as David, Gad and Nathan had commanded. (Gad was the king’s seer, and Nathan was a prophet.) This command came from the Lord through his prophets.
26. So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments of music. And the priests stood ready with their trumpets.
27. Then Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the singing to the Lord also began. The trumpets were blown. And the musical instruments of David king of Israel were played.