1 HEZEKIAH began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And 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 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, 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 street,
5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs.
7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.
8 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
9 For, lo, 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 mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.
12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; 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:
14 And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel.
15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.
16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord: so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.
19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord.
21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
23 And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25 And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets.
26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.
28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.
30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.
32 And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.
33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.
34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
35 And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order.
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

1Ahaz was twentie yeeres olde when hee beganne to reigne, and he reigned sixteene yeres in Ierusalem: but hee did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like Dauid his father.

2For he walked in the wayes of the Kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.

3Moreouer, he burnt incense in the valley of the sonne of Hinnom, & burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen, whome the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

4Hee sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hils, and vnder euery greene tree.

5Wherefore the Lord his God deliuered him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smote him, and caried away a great multitude of them captiues, and brought them to Damascus: And he was also deliuered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him wich a great slaughter.

6 For Pekah the sonne of Remaliah slew in Iudah an hundred & twentie thousand in one day, which were all valiant men: because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.

7And Zichri a mightie man of Ephraim, slue Maaseiah the kings sonne, and Azrikam the gouernour of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the King.

8And the children of Israel caried away captiue of their brethren, two hundred thousand, women, sonnes and daughters, and tooke also away much spoile from them, and brought the spoile to Samaria.

9But a Prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded: and hee went out before the hoste that came to Samaria, and said vnto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Iudah, he hath deliuered them into your hand, and yee haue slaine them in a rage that reacheth vp vnto heauen.

10And now ye purpose to keepe vnder the children of Iudah and Ierusalem for bondmen, and bondwomen vnto you: But are there not with you, euen with you, sinnes against the Lord your God?

11Now heare me therefore, and deliuer the captiues againe, which ye haue taken captiue of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of God is vpon you.

12Then certeine of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the sonne of Iohanan, Berechiah the sonne of Meshillemoth, and Iehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the sonne of Hadlai, stood vp against them that came from the warre,

13And said vnto them, Ye shall not bring in the captiues hither: for whereas wee haue offended against the Lord already, ye intend to adde more to our sinnes and to our trespasse: for our trespasse is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.

14So the armed men left the captiues, and the spoile before the Princes, and all the congregation.

15And the men which were expressed by name, rose vp and tooke the captiues, and with the spoile clothed all that were naked among them, and arayed them, and shod them, and gaue them to eate and to drinke, and anointed them, and caried all the feeble of them vpon asses, and brought them to Iericho, the city of palme-trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

16 At that time did king Ahaz send vnto the kings of Assyria to helpe him.

17For againe the Edomites had come and smitten Iudah, and caried away captiues.

18The Philistines also had inuaded the cities of the low-countrey, and of the South of Iudah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aialon, and Gedetoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also, and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there.

19For the Lord brought Iudah low, because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Iudah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord.

20And Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria came vnto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.

21For Ahaz tooke away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and out of the house of the King, and of the Princes, and gaue it vnto the King of Assyria: but he helped him not.

22 And in the time of this distresse did hee trespasse yet more against the Lord: This is that king Ahaz.

23For he sacrificed vnto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helpe them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may helpe me: but they were the ruine of him, and of all Israel.

24And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut vp the doores of the house of the Lord, and hee made him altars in euery corner of Ierusalem.

25And in euery seuerall city of Iudah hee made high places to burne incense vnto other gods, and prouoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.

26 Now the rest of his acts, and of all his wayes, first and last, behold, they are written in the booke of the kings of Iudah and Israel.

27And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the citie, euen in Ierusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his sonne reigned in his stead.

I == 2nd Kings 18:1 ; 2nd Chr 26:5

 

 

 

 

III == 2nd Chr 28:24 ; 29:7

 

 

 

 

V == 1st Chr 15:12 ; 2nd Chr 35:6

 

 

 

VI == Jer 2:27 ; Ezek 8:16

 

 

 

VII == 2nd Chr 28:24

 

 

 

VIII == Deut 28:25 ; 1st Kings 9:8 ; 2nd Chr 24:18 ; Jer 18:16 ; 19:8 ; 25:9 , 18 ; 29:18

IX == 2nd Chr 28:5-6 , 8 , 17

X == 2nd Chr 15:12

 

 

XI == Num 3:6 ; 8:14 ; 18:2 , 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XV == 1st Chr 23:28 ; 2nd Chr 29:5 ; 30:12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XIX == 2nd chr 28:24

 

 

 

 

 

XXI == Lev 4:3 , 14

 

 

 

XX == Lev 8:14-15 , 19 , 24 ; Heb 9:21

 

 

 

XXIII == Lev 4:15 , 24

 

XXIV == Lev 14:20

 

 

 

 

XXV == 2nd Xam 24:11 ; 1st Chr 16:4 ; 23:5 ; 25:1, 6 ; 2nd Chr 8:14 ; 30:12

 

XXVI == Num 10:8 , 10 ; 1st Chr 15:24 ; 16:6 ; 23:5 ; Amos 6:5

XXVII == 2nd Chr 23:18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXI == Lev 7:12 ; 2nd Chr 13:9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXIV == 2nd Chr 30:3 ; 35:11 ; Ps 7:10

 

 

 

 

XXXV == Lev 3:16 ; Num 15:5 , 7 , 10

 

1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Abia, daughter of Zechariah.

2 He pleased the LORD just as his forefather David had done.

3 It was he who, in the first month of the first year of his reign, opened the doors of the LORD'S house and repaired them.

4 He summoned the priests and Levites, gathered them in the open space to the east,

5 and said to them: "Listen to me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and clean out the filth from the sanctuary.

6 Our fathers acted faithlessly and did evil in the eyes of the LORD, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from the LORD'S dwelling, and turned their backs on him.

7 They also closed the doors of the vestibule, extinguished the lamps, and refused to burn incense and offer holocausts in the sanctuary to the honor of the God of Israel.

8 Therefore the anger of the LORD has come upon Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of terror, astonishment and mockery, as you see with your own eyes.

9 For our fathers, as you know, fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters and our wives have been taken captive because of this.

10 Now, I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, that his burning anger may withdraw from us.

11 My sons, be not negligent any longer, for it is you whom the LORD has chosen to stand before him, to minister to him, to be his ministers and to offer incense."

12 Then the Levites arose: Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah, descendants of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallel; of the Gershonites: Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah;

13 of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah;

14 of the sons of Heman: Jehuel and Shimei; of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemiah and Uzziel.

15 They gathered their brethren together and sanctified themselves; then they came as the king had ordered, to cleanse the LORD'S house in keeping with his words.

16 The priests entered the interior of the LORD'S house to cleanse it; and whatever they found in the LORD'S temple that was unclean they brought out to the court of the LORD'S house, where the Levites took it from them and carried it out to the Kidron Valley.

17 They began the work of consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they arrived at the vestibule of the LORD; they consecrated the LORD'S house during eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month, they had finished.

18 Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said: "We have cleansed the entire house of the LORD, the altar of holocausts with all its utensils, and the table for the showbread with all its utensils.

19 All the articles which King Ahaz during his reign had thrown away because of his apostasy, we have restored and consecrated, and they are now before the LORD'S altar."

20 Then King Hezekiah hastened to convoke the princes of the city and went up to the LORD'S house.

21 Seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats were brought for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah, and he ordered the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

22 They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests collected the blood and cast it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and cast the blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and cast the blood on the altar.

23 Then the he-goats for the sin offering were led before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands upon them.

24 The priests then slaughtered them and offered their blood on the altar to atone for the sin of all Israel; for "The holocaust and the sin offering," the king had said, "is for all Israel."

25 He stationed the Levites in the LORD'S house with cymbals, harps and lyres according to the prescriptions of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the prescriptions were from the LORD through his prophets.

26 The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

27 Then Hezekiah ordered the holocaust to be sacrificed on the altar, and in the same instant that the holocaust began, they also began the song of the LORD, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel.

28 The entire assembly prostrated itself, and they continued to sing the song and to sound the trumpets until the holocaust had been completed.

29 As the holocaust was completed, the king and all who were with him knelt and prostrated themselves.

30 King Hezekiah and the princes then commanded the Levites to sing the praises of the LORD in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises till their joy was full, then fell down and prostrated themselves.

31 Hezekiah now spoke out this command: "You have undertaken a work for the LORD. Approach, and bring forward the sacrifices and thank offerings for the house of the LORD." Then the assembly brought forward the sacrifices and thank offerings and all the holocausts which were free-will offerings.

32 The number of holocausts that the assembly brought forward was seventy oxen, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all of these as a holocaust to the LORD.

33 As consecrated gifts there were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

34 Since the priests were too few in number to be able to skin all the victims for the holocausts, their brethren the Levites assisted them until the task was completed and the priests had sanctified themselves; the Levites, in fact, were more willing than the priests to sanctify themselves.

35 Also, the holocausts were many, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the libations for the holocausts. Thus the service of the house of the LORD was reestablished.

36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had reestablished for the people, and at how suddenly this had been done.

v 1,2. Time of Hezekiah’s reign allows Ahaz to have been only 11 or 12 years old when Hezekiah was born, so we must assume Ahaz was past that age and  Hezekiah was co-regent with him a few years. It is said of kings of Judah, Asa, Jehoshaphat and Josiah, they did what was right in the sight of the Lord but not like David. But Hezekiah came on strong doing “according to all” David had done. It is strange that after the influence of his wicked father Ahaz that he would be so zealous for the Lord, but it only shows what the grace of God can do in anyone. Even Urijah the priest cooperated with Ahaz in setting up the wicked altar, 2 Ki. 16:11-16, so Isaiah may have had much more contact and influence on Hezekiah than Scripture records, as well as his mother.

v 3-11. In the very first month of his sole reign he lost no time in opening the doors of the temple. Next step was to gather the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves and the house of the Lord, then remove the filth. He informs them that it is because of the evil and disobedience of their fathers that the wrath of God was on Judah and Jerusalem. Because of this, some of the people were in captivity, see my     2 Chr. 28:5-15 comments in 2 Ki. 16:5,6. As Jehoiada made a covenant between the priests, the people, the king and the Lord, 2 Chr. 24:16, Hezekiah proposes to also do to turn away the wrath of the Lord. He urges the priests to perform their ministry.

v 12-19. These concerned Levites brought their brethren and came & sanctified themselves preparatory for cleansing the temple. Of course only the priests could go inside, so they brought the trash into the court and the Levites took it to the dump. Eight days were spent in cleansing the temple, and another eight were used in cleansing the outside things such as the altar of burnt offering, and cleansing and sanctifying the  vessels which wicked King Ahaz had taken away to use in his pagan services.

v 20-30. Hezekiah began the day early, bringing the leaders of the city with 28 animals for a sin offering. They laid their hands on them and killed them for atonement of all Israel as the king commanded and according to Lev. 4:1-5:15. Instead of the usual one animal for sin offering, they offered seven, because of their continued sin.  Hezekiah had the musicians in place the way David had ordered, and the burnt offering was made accompanied by music. Everyone participated throughout the entire time of sacrifice of the burnt offering. The congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and trumpets played. After that, all present bowed and worshiped. After the singers had finished, Hezekiah had the Levites sing some psalms, and all worshiped.

v 31-33. Now that they were consecrated, Hezekiah invited the people to bring in sacrifices and thank offerings, and many of free will brought burnt offerings: 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 male lambs. Additionally, 600 bulls and 3000 sheep and goats were brought for peace and thank (fellowship) offerings in which the priests and the offerers shared the meat.

v 34-36. Many priests had been offering to idols, and perhaps thought Hezekiah was being too forward in reinstating temple worship, and did not sanctify themselves for their work. As a result, there were too few to handle all the offerings. The Levites had been quick to sanctify themselves, so they assisted the qualified priests. Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared people’s hearts in such short time.