1 Ezequias tinha vinte e cinco anos de idade quando começou a reinar, e reinou vinte e nove anos em Jerusalém. O nome de sua mãe era Abia, filha de Zacarias.
2 Ele fez o que o Senhor aprova, tal como tinha feito Davi, seu predecessor.
3 No primeiro mês do primeiro ano de seu reinado, ele reabriu as portas do templo do Senhor e as consertou.
4 Convocou os sacerdotes e os levitas, reuniu-os na praça que fica no lado leste
5 e disse: "Escutem-me, levitas! Consagrem-se agora e consagrem o templo do Senhor, o Deus dos seus antepassados. Retirem tudo o que é impuro do santuário.
6 Nossos pais foram infiéis; fizeram o que o Senhor, o nosso Deus, reprova e o abandonaram. Desviaram o rosto do local da habitação do Senhor e deram-lhe as costas.
7 Também fecharam as portas do pórtico e apagaram as lâmpadas. Não queimaram incenso nem apresentaram holocausto no santuário para o Deus de Israel.
8 Por isso, a ira do Senhor caiu sobre Judá e sobre Jerusalém; e ele fez deles objeto de espanto, horror e zombaria, conforme vocês podem ver com os seus próprios olhos.
9 Por isso os nossos pais caíram à espada e os nossos filhos, as nossas filhas e as nossas mulheres foram levadas como prisioneiras.
10 Pretendo, pois, agora fazer uma aliança com o Senhor, o Deus de Israel, para que o fogo da sua ira se afaste de nós.
11 Meus filhos, não sejam negligentes agora, pois o Senhor os escolheu para estarem diante dele e o servirem, para ministrarem perante ele e queimarem incenso".
12 Então estes levitas puseram-se a trabalhar: dentre os descendentes de Coate: Maate, filho de Amasai, e Joel, filho de Azarias; dentre os descendentes de Merari: Quis, filho de Abdi, e Azarias, filho de Jealelel; dentre os descendentes de Gérson: Joá, filho de Zima, e Éden, filho de Joá;
13 dentre os descendentes de Elisafã: Sinri e Jeuel; dentre os descendentes de Asafe: Zacarias e Matanias;
14 dentre os descendentes de Hemã: Jeuel e Simei; dentre os descendentes de Jedutum: Semaías e Uziel.
15 Tendo reunido e consagrado os seus parentes, os levitas foram purificar o templo do Senhor, conforme o rei havia ordenado em obediência à palavra do Senhor.
16 Os sacerdotes entraram no santuário do Senhor para purificá-lo e trouxeram para o pátio do templo do Senhor todas as coisas impuras que lá havia, e os levitas as levaram para o vale de Cedrom.
17 Começaram a consagração no dia primeiro do primeiro mês, e no oitavo dia chegaram ao pórtico do Senhor. Durante mais oito dias consagraram o templo do Senhor propriamente dito, terminando tudo no dia dezesseis.
18 Depois foram falar com o rei Ezequias e lhe relataram: "Purificamos todo o templo do Senhor, o altar dos holocaustos e a mesa do pão consagrado, ambos com todos seus utensílios.
19 Preparamos e consagramos todos os utensílios que o rei Acaz, em sua infidelidade, retirou durante o seu reinado. Eles estão em frente do altar do Senhor".
20 Cedo, na manhã seguinte, o rei Ezequias reuniu os líderes da cidade e, juntos, subiram ao templo do Senhor,
21 levando sete novilhos, sete carneiros, sete cordeiros e sete bodes como oferta pelo pecado, em favor da realeza, do santuário e de Judá. O rei ordenou que os sacerdotes, descendentes de Arão, sacrificassem os animais no altar do Senhor.
22 Então os sacerdotes abateram os novilhos e aspergiram o sangue sobre o altar; em seguida fizeram o mesmo com os carneiros e com os cordeiros.
23 Depois, os bodes para a oferta pelo pecado foram levados para diante do rei e da assembléia, que impuseram as mãos sobre eles.
24 Os sacerdotes abateram os bodes e apresentaram o sangue sobre o altar como oferta pelo pecado, para fazer propiciação por todo o Israel, pois era em favor de todo o Israel que o rei havia ordenado o holocausto e a oferta pelo pecado.
25 O rei posicionou os levitas no templo do Senhor, com címbalos, liras e harpas, segundo a prescrição de Davi, de Gade, vidente do rei, e do profeta Natã; isso foi ordenado pelo Senhor, por meio de seus profetas.
26 Assim os levitas ficaram em pé, preparados com os instrumentos de Davi, e os sacerdotes com as cornetas.
27 Então Ezequias ordenou que sacrificassem o holocausto sobre o altar. Iniciado o sacrifício, começou também o canto ao Senhor, ao som das cornetas e dos instrumentos de Davi, rei de Israel.
28 Toda a assembléia prostrou-se em adoração, enquanto os músicos cantavam e os corneteiros tocavam, até que terminou o holocausto.
29 Então o rei e todos os presentes ajoelharam-se e adoraram.
30 O rei Ezequias e seus oficiais ordenaram aos levitas que louvassem o Senhor com as palavras de Davi e do vidente Asafe. Eles louvaram com alegria, depois inclinaram suas cabeças e adoraram.
31 Disse então Ezequias: "Agora que vocês se dedicaram ao Senhor, tragam sacrifícios e ofertas de gratidão ao templo do Senhor". Assim, a comunidade levou sacrifícios e ofertas de gratidão, e alguns, espontaneamente, levaram também holocaustos.
32 Esses holocaustos que a assembléia ofertou ao Senhor foram setenta bois, cem carneiros e duzentos cordeiros.
33 Os animais consagrados como sacrifícios chegaram a seiscentos bois e três mil ovelhas e bodes.
34 Como os sacerdotes eram muito poucos para tirar a pele de todos os holocaustos, os seus parentes, os levitas, os ajudaram até o fim da tarefa e até que outros sacerdotes se consagrassem, pois os levitas demoraram menos para se consagrarem do que os sacerdotes.
35 Houve holocaustos em grande quantidade, oferecidos com a gordura das ofertas de comunhão e com as ofertas derramadas que acompanhavam esses holocaustos. Assim foi restabelecido o culto no templo do Senhor.
36 Ezequias e todo o povo regozijavam-se com o que Deus havia feito por seu povo, e tudo em tão pouco tempo.
1 And, Hezekiah, began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and, twenty-nine years, reigned he in Jerusalem,and, the name of his mother, was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.
2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh,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 Yahweh, and repaired them.
4 And he brought in the priests, and the Levites,and gathered them together in the broadway on the east;
5 and said unto them, Hear me, O Levites! Now, hallow yourselves, and hallow the house of Yahweh, God of your fathers, and take forth the impure thing out of the holy place.
6 For our fathers have acted unfaithfully and done the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him,-and have turned round their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and have offered their backs.
7 Moreover they have shut up the doors of the porch, and have quenched the lamps, and, incense, have they not burned,-and, ascending-sacrifice, have they not caused to go up in the holy place, unto the God of Israel.
8 Thus hath it come to pass, that, the wrath of Yahweh, hath been upon Judah and Jerusalem,and he hath delivered them up as a terror and as an astonishment and as hissing, even as, ye, can see with your own eyes.
9 And lo! our fathers have fallen by the sword, and, our sons and our daughters and our wives, are in captivity for this.
10 Now, is it near my heart, to solemnise a covenant unto Yahweh, God of Israel,that he may turn from him the glow of his anger.
11 My sons! now, do not be faulty,for, of you, hath Yahweh made choice, to stand before him, and to wait upon him, and to be his attendants and burners of incense.
12 Then arose the LevitesMahath son of Amasai, and Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites, and, of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi, and Azariah son of Jehallelel,and, of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah, and Eden 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 together their brethren, who hallowed themselves, and came in according to the command of the king, in the things of Yahweh,to purify the house of Yahweh.
16 So the priests entered into the inner part of the house of Yahweh, to make purification, and they brought out every unclean thing which they found in the temple of Yahweh, into the court of the house of Yahweh,where the Levites received it, to carry it forth to the Kidron ravine outside.
17 And they began, on the first of the first month, to hallow,and, on the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of Yahweh, so they hallowed the house of Yahweh in eight days,and, on the sixteenth day of the first month, they finished.
18 Then came they in unto Hezekiah the king, and said, We have purified all the house of Yahweh,the altar of ascending-sacrifice, and all the utensils thereof, and the table for setting in array, and all the utensils thereof.
19 And, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign rejected when he acted unfaithfully, have we made ready and hallowed,and, there they are, before the altar of Yahweh.
20 So Hezekiah the king rose up early, and gathered together the rulers of the city,and went up to the house of Yahweh.
21 And they brought in seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven young sheep, and seven he-goats for bearing sin, for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah,and he bade the sons of Aaron, the priests, cause them to ascend upon the altar of Yahweh.
22 So they slaughtered the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and dashed it against the altar,and they slaughtered the rams, and dashed the blood against the altar, and slaughtered the young sheep, and dashed the blood against the altar.
23 And they brought near the he-goats for bearing sin, before the king, and the convocation,and they leaned their hands upon them;
24 and the priests slaughtered them, and sin-cleansed, with their blood, the altar, to put a propitiatory-covering over all Israel,-because, for all Israel, did the king appoint the ascending-sacrifice and the offering for bearing sin.
25 And he caused the Levites to stand in the house of Yahweh, with cymbals and with harps and with lyres, by the commandment of David, and of Gad the seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet,for, by the hand of Yahweh, came the commandment by the hand of his prophets.
26 So the Levites took their stand, with the instruments of David, and the priests, with the trumpets.
27 And Hezekiah gave word, to cause the ascending-sacrifice to go up on the altar,and, when the ascending-sacrifice began, the singing unto Yahweh began, and the trumpets, even under the direction of the instruments of David, king of Israel.
28 And, all the convocation, were bowing themselves in prostration, and, the song, was resounding and the trumpets were blowing,-the whole, until the completing of the ascending-sacrifice.
29 And, when the offering was complete, the king knelt down and all who were present with him, and bowed themselves in prostration.
30 And Hezekiah the king and the rulers gave word to the Levites, to offer praise unto Yahweh, in the words of David, and of Asaph the seer,so they offered praise right joyfully, and bent their heads and bowed themselves in prostration.
31 Then responded Hezekiah and saidNow, have ye consecrated yourselves unto Yahweh. Draw near, and bring in sacrifices and thank-offerings unto the house of Yahweh,-So the convocation brought sacrifices and thank-offerings, and, everyone of a willing heart, ascending-sacrifices.
32 And it came to pass that, the number of ascending-sacrifices which the convocation brought, wasseventy bullocks, and a hundred rams, and two hundred young sheep,as an ascending-sacrifice unto Yahweh, all these.
33 But, the hallowed beasts, were six hundred bullocks, and three thousand sheep.
34 Only, the priests, were too few, and were unable to flay all the ascending-sacrifices,so their brethren the Levites strengthened them, until the work was complete and until the priests had hallowed themselves, for, the Levites, were more upright in heart to hallow themselves, than the priests.
35 Moreover also, the ascending-sacrifices, were in abundance, with the fat portions of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-offerings to every ascending-sacrifice,-thus was established the service of the house of Yahweh.
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because God had established it for the people,for, suddenly, had the thing come about.