2 Chronicles 29: King Hezekiah’s Reforms – Clear & Engaging Audio Bible Reading | Restoring Worship, Cleansing the Temple, and Reviving the Faith of Judah

Listen to this clear and engaging audio recording of 2 Chronicles 29 and witness the inspiring reforms of King Hezekiah. Discover how he restored the worship of God, cleansed the temple from defilement, and revived the faith of Judah. Immerse yourself in this powerful chapter and experience the transforming power of God’s word. Perfect for personal reflection, meditation, or Bible study.

2 CHRONICLES 29 (NIV)

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

2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father
David had done.

3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of
the temple of the Lord and repaired them.

4 He brought in the priests and the
Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side

5 and said: “Listen to
me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord,
the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.

6 Our
parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and
forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and
turned their backs on him.

7 They also shut the doors of the portico and put
out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the
sanctuary to the God of Israel.

8 Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen
on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and
scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.

9 This is why our fathers have
fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in
captivity.

10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of
Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.

11 My sons, do not be
negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him,
to minister before him and to burn incense.”

12 Then these Levites set to work:
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;

13 from the descendants of Elizaphan,
Shimri and Jeiel;
from the descendants of Asaph,
Zechariah and Mattaniah;

14 from the descendants of Heman,
Jehiel and Shimei;
from the descendants of Jeduthun,
Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves,
they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered,
following the word of the Lord.

16 The priests went into the sanctuary of the
Lord to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple
everything unclean that they found in the temple of the Lord. The Levites took
it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley.

17 They began the consecration on
the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they
reached the portico of the Lord. For eight more days they consecrated the
temple of the Lord itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.

18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: “We have purified the
entire temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils,
and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles.

19
We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in
his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the Lord’s
altar.”

20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together
and went up to the temple of the Lord.

21 They brought seven bulls, seven
rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom,
for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the
descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the Lord.

22 So they
slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it against
the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and splashed their blood against the
altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and splashed their blood against the
altar.

23 The goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the
assembly, and they laid their hands on them.

24 The priests then slaughtered
the goats and presented their blood on the altar for a sin offering to atone
for all Israel, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin
offering for all Israel.

25 He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and
lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the
prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets.

26 So the
Levites stood ready with David’s instruments, and the priests with their
trumpets.

27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As
the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets
and the instruments of David king of Israel.

28 The whole assembly bowed in
worship, while the musicians played and the trumpets sounded. All this
continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.

29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him
knelt down and worshiped.

30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the
Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So
they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.

31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come
and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord.” So the
assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were
willing brought burnt offerings.

32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a
hundred rams and two hundred male lambs—all of them for burnt offerings to the
Lord.

33 The animals consecrated as sacrifices amounted to six hundred bulls
and three thousand sheep and goats.

34 The priests, however, were too few to
skin all the burnt offerings; so their relatives the Levites helped them until
the task was finished and until other priests had been consecrated, for the
Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the
priests had been.

35 There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with
the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied
the burnt offerings.
So the service of the temple of the Lord was reestablished.

36 Hezekiah and
all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because
it was done so quickly.