1. Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David, his father, had done.
3. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
4. And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east plaza
5. and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and ye shall sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of the sanctuary.
6. For our fathers have rebelled and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, for they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs.
7. They even shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the sanctuary unto the God of Israel.
8. Therefore, the wrath of the Lord has come upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
9. For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11. My sons, do not deceive yourselves, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should be his ministers and burn incense unto him.
12. Then the Levites arose, 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;