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.
28. All the people worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpet players blew their trumpets. They did this until the burnt offering was finished.
29. When the sacrifices were finished, King Hezekiah and everyone with him bowed down and worshiped.
30. King Hezekiah and his officers ordered the Levites to praise the Lord. They were to use the words David and Asaph the seer used. They praised God with joy. And they bowed down and worshiped.