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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.

<html><b>and reinforced them</b> because Ahaz had destroyed all the vessels of the House of God.</html>

<html><b>and remove the ‘menstruant’</b> The <i>Midrash Aggadah</i> (source unknown) states: ‘The corpse’ is not stated here, but ‘the menstruant,’ which is more repugnant than the corpse. It is compared to the uncleanness of the menstruant, because menstrual blood is repugnant.</html>

<html><b>extinguished the lamps, and they did not burn incense nor offer up burnt offerings in the Sanctuary to the God of Israel</b> but they made high places to alien gods in every city, to burn incense to them.</html>

<html><b>do not forget</b> - Heb. תִּשָּׁלוּ, an expression denoting lack of intention.</html>

<html><b>And the priests came within</b> for the Levites may not enter within. <b>to the court of the House of the Lord</b> the place where the Levites stood, as he says: “and the Levites received, etc.”</html>

<html><b>They commenced on the first of the first month etc., they sanctified the House of the Lord for eight days</b> This is why they prolonged the cleansing to cleanse it so long, because Ahaz had painted all the walls with images, as it is written (Ezek. 23:14): “Images of Chaldeans, engraved with types of drawings,” and they prolonged it for eight days until they destroyed the likeness of the images from the walls, and on the sixteenth day of the month, they completed everything, the Temple and the forecourt.</html>

<html><b>we have prepared and sanctified</b> This is explained in <i>Abodah Zarah</i> (52b) in the chapter entitled “Rabbi Ishmael”: May vessels used in the Onias temple be used in the Temple?…He questioned him, “’That King Ahaz forsook, etc….we have prepared and sanctified.’ Does not ‘we have prepared’ mean that they immersed them and ‘sanctified’ mean that they consecrated them?” He replied, “Blessed are you to Heaven, for you have restored my loss to me. ‘We have prepared’ means that we have concealed them and ‘sanctified’ means that we consecrated others in their stead.”</html>

<html><b>and seven kids, etc.</b> This was a temporary provision. <b>on the altar of the Lord</b> but not on those altars that his father Ahaz had made.</html>

<html><b>to atone for all Israel</b> for they had sinned by [practicing] idolatry. The king said as follows: “Let the burnt offerings and the sin offerings be for all Israel.” In the section שְׁלַח (Num. 16:24) it is written: “the entire congregation shall offer up one bull, etc.,” and it is written: (Lev 4:14): “and the congregation shall bring a young bull for a sin offering,” and here it is written that they brought seven bulls, rams, lambs, and kids! This was a temporary ruling.</html>

<html><b>for by the hand of the Lord was the commandment, by the hand of His prophets</b> that the Levites should play musical instruments. It is not written in the Torah that a sacrifice requires musical accompaniment (lit., song), but it is the commandment of the Lord, which He commanded through His prophets to accompany the sacrifice with song. Our Rabbis explained in Tractate <i>Arachin</i> (11a): From where do we derive that the Levites are required to play musical instruments? For it is written (Num. 4:47): “the service of the service.” Which is a service that requires another service with it? This is music with a musical instrument. “And the service of raising” may also be correctly explained in reference to song, as it is written (I Chron. 15:22): “And Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites in song (בְּמַשָּׂא) etc. because he was an expert,” for he was appointed to raise the voice of the melody of the song.</html>

<html><b>and the priests with the trumpets</b> as it is written (Num. 10:8): “And Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall blow the trumpets.”</html>

<html><b>to praise the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer</b> i.e., “Give thanks to the Lord, call out in His name,” as is written above (I Chron. 16:8f): “On that day, David placed Nathan at the head to give thanks to the Lord by the hand of Asaph and his brethren, etc.”</html>

<html><b>and the congregation brought [peace] offerings and thanksgiving offerings</b> which are permissible for the owner to eat. <b>and every generous-hearted one - burnt offerings</b> Some of them, whoever was moved by his heart, brought burnt-offerings, but not all of them [i.e., not all the people brought burnt-offerings], because the owner has no permission to eat them.</html>

<html><b>And the sacred offerings</b> sacred offerings of the lower degree - [thanksgiving-] offerings and peace-offerings, from which the owners may benefit.</html>

<html><b>Only the priests were few</b> i.e., Those who had consecrated themselves were still few; so their kinsmen, the Levites, reinforced them until the work was completed and until the priests consecrated themselves. Now, should you ask: How was it that the Levites consecrated themselves and the priests did not consecrate themselves? Scripture explains: “for the Levites were more conscientious than the priests to consecrate themselves”; the Levites were more conscientious than the priests, for the priests and the Levites and all God-fearing people had disguised themselves and made themselves appear unrecognizable, and had even hidden, all the days of the wicked kings, and when Hezekiah - who was righteous - came, they could not immediately consecrate themselves and cleanse themselves, for this was in the first year of his reign; so they came and consecrated themselves gradually, as it is written (Prov. 28:12): “When the righteous rejoice, there is much glory, but when the wicked rise up, a person disguises himself,” and it is written (ibid. verse 28): “When the wicked rise up, people hide; but when they perish, the righteous increase.” When the wicked Ahaz rose up, people hid, but when he perished, the righteous increased, i.e., Hezekiah and his company.</html>

<html><b>over that which God had prepared for the people</b> to serve Him and to do His will, similar to below (30:19): “His whole heart he set to seek, etc.,” and they also rejoiced because they were suddenly inspired in the first year of his reign to return to the Lord, and they returned immediately.</html>