2 Tawarikh 29:4-17

29:4 He brought in the priests and Levites and assembled them in the square on the east side. 29:5 He said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors! ¹  Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean! 29:6 For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of ²  the Lord our God and abandoned him! They turned ³  away from the Lord’s dwelling place and rejected him. ⁴  29:7 They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel. 29:8 The Lord was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn, ⁵  as you can see with your own eyes. 29:9 Look, our fathers died violently ⁶  and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off ⁷  because of this. 29:10 Now I intend ⁸  to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger. ⁹  29:11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to serve in his presence and offer sacrifices.” ¹⁰ 

29:12 The following Levites prepared to carry out the king’s orders: ¹¹ 

From the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah;

from the Merarites: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel;

from the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

29:13 from the descendants of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel;

from the descendants of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah;

29:14 from the descendants of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei;

from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

29:15 They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word ¹²  of the Lord. 29:16 The priests then entered the Lord’s temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside. ¹³  The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley. 29:17 On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the Lord’s temple. ¹⁴  For eight more days they consecrated the Lord’s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.

[29:5]  ¹ tn Heb “fathers.”

[29:6]  ² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[29:6]  ³ tn Heb “turned their faces.”

[29:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and turned the back.”

[29:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he made them [an object] of dread and devastation and hissing.”

[29:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “fell by the sword.”

[29:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “are in captivity.”

[29:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “now it is with my heart.”

[29:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “so that the rage of his anger might turn from us.” The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding statement of intention.

[29:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to stand before him to serve him and to be his servants and sacrificers.”

[29:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the Levites arose.”

[29:15]  ¹² tn Heb “words” (plural).

[29:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “in the temple of the Lord.”

[29:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “porch of the Lord.”