2 Chronicles 29

¹In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.

²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

¹³Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,

⁵He sought God throughout the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

¹This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

¹This is the word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

²And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

²⁴Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

⁷They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel.

³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

¹⁴He also took the bronze altar that stood before the Lord from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the Lord) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”

³In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images.

¹⁰Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

²⁹Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house, and next to him, Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the guard of the East Gate, made repairs.

⁶Hezekiah appointed military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying,

²and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you,

⁶Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your fellow countrymen to carry out the word of the Lord given by Moses.”

¹⁶Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

⁹Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

¹⁰So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.

³In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images.

⁴Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

¹²And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.

¹⁵When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the command of the king by the words of the Lord.

¹⁶So the priests went inside the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the Lord. Then the Levites took these things and carried them out to the Kidron Valley.

¹⁶So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

²⁷say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

³²So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

²Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even made cast images of the Baals.

³Moreover, Ahaz burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

²¹“Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord by doing all that is written in this book.”

²⁴Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

²“Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

³Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps continually before the Lord from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come.

³In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the Lord.

¹⁷King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

¹⁸And on account of the king of Assyria, he removed the Sabbath canopy they had built in the temple and closed the royal entryway outside the house of the Lord.

¹⁰“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

⁹behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁸to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

¹⁸They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

⁸I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁸I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.

²⁵The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁷The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away captives.

⁵So the Lord his God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Aram, who attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.

⁶For in one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant men in Judah. This happened because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.

⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

¹⁷And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.

⁵They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.

¹⁶Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and the king and the people that they would be the Lord’s people.

³So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.

³⁸In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.”

¹²Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul.

¹³And whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

⁷Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁸But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.

⁸At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they do to this day.

⁶“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean.

⁷This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him.

⁷They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle.

²But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony.

³And they shall attend to your duties and to all the duties of the Tent; but they must not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die.

³⁵And fire came forth from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

³⁶Then the Lord said to Moses,

⁷Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.

⁸The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

⁴⁴On the left were their kinsmen, the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,

¹⁹The sons of Kohath by their clans were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

²⁰And the sons of Merari by their clans were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites, according to their families.

¹⁷These were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹⁶The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

¹⁷These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.

²“Take a census of the Kohathites among the Levites by their clans and families,

³men from thirty to fifty years old—everyone who is qualified to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

¹³Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the authority of Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief official of the house of God.

³⁹Heman’s kinsman was Asaph, who served at his right hand: Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,

⁸from the Elizaphanites, Shemaiah the chief and 200 of his relatives;

²From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his brothers, Asaph son of Berechiah; from their brothers the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah;

⁴Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here; carry the bodies of your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.”

³³These are the men who served, together with their sons. From the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,

¹⁹The musicians Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals.

¹Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:

⁶All these were under the direction of their fathers for the music of the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the direction of the king.

³From the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah—six in all—under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the harp, giving thanks and praise to the Lord.

²⁸but their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron with the service of the house of the Lord, being responsible for the courts and chambers, the purification of all the holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,

¹²Moreover, the power of God was on the people in Judah to give them one heart to obey the command of the king and his officials according to the word of the Lord.

⁵“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.

¹⁶King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁹Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there.

²⁰The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

³³And hang the veil from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the veil. So the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

³⁴Put the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.

²³So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

⁷Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

⁴Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

⁵Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

⁷They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel.

¹¹Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.

³The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.

²“This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.

³Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.

⁴The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

³In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the Lord.

¹¹Every morning and every evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the rows of showbread on the ceremonially clean table, and every evening they light the lamps of the gold lampstand. We are carrying out the requirements of the Lord our God, while you have forsaken Him.

⁷He made ten gold lampstands according to their specifications and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north.

⁸Additionally, he made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold bowls.

¹He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

²⁴Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

¹²Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests took the ark of the Lord.

³So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.

⁴And the Lord has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

³If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.

⁴He must bring the bull to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and slaughter it before the Lord.

²³Each day during the seven days of the feast, he shall provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord, along with a male goat for a sin offering.

⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

¹⁴So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

³⁵Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

¹⁸He is also to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the Tent of Meeting, and he must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁹Moses slaughtered the ram and splattered the blood on all sides of the altar.

²⁴Moses also presented Aaron’s sons and put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splattered the blood on all sides of the altar.

⁵And he shall slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests are to present the blood and splatter it on all sides of the altar at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁷The priest must then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

²¹In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship.

²²According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

¹⁵The elders of the congregation are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and it shall be slaughtered before the Lord.

²⁴He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering.

⁴He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, so it can be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.

²⁰and offer it on the altar, with the grain offering, to make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

²⁴Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

³⁰But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it must be burned.

¹⁵And one sheep shall be given from each flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement for the people, declares the Lord God.

¹⁷And it shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—for all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

¹⁷For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.

¹⁴In keeping with the ordinances of his father David, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, and the Levites for their duties to offer praise and to minister before the priests according to the daily requirement. He also appointed gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God.

⁵4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”

⁴David appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to celebrate, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁵Asaph was the chief, Zechariah was second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They were to play the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals

³³Those who were musicians, the heads of Levite families, stayed in the temple chambers and were exempt from other duties because they were on duty day and night.

¹⁵The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. And the gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

⁴²Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for the songs of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.

⁵4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”

²⁴Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer—the priests—were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be guardians of the ark.

⁵You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.

⁵Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, in melodious song with the harp.

⁶With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

¹⁰And on your joyous occasions, your appointed feasts, and the beginning of each month, you are to blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings to serve as a reminder for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

¹⁸Moreover, Jehoiada put the oversight of the house of the Lord into the hands of the Levitical priests, whom David had appointed over the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and song, as ordained by David.

²¹Then Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and appointed those who would sing to the Lord and praise the splendor of His holiness. As they went out before the army, they were singing: “Give thanks to the Lord, for His loving devotion endures forever.”

³for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

⁴How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?

³When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”

¹Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever.

⁸When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁹And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

¹⁵Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence.

²⁴They have seen Your procession, O God—the march of my God and King into the sanctuary.

²⁵The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.

¹⁸Then Jehoshaphat bowed facedown, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Him.

²⁰Then David said to the whole assembly, “Bless the Lord your God.” So the whole assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers. They bowed down and paid homage to the Lord and to the king.

¹¹It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.”

¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹¹May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

¹Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!

²Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

¹¹Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

⁷On that day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this song of thanksgiving to the Lord:

⁸“Give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the nations.

²Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

¹A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

²Serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.

⁹But did you not drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? And did you not make priests for yourselves as do the peoples of other lands? Now whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of things that are not gods.

²²So all who had willing hearts, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings, rings and necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry. And they all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord.

¹Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, you may bring as your offering an animal from the herd or the flock.

³⁸These offerings are in addition to the offerings for the Lord’s Sabbaths, and in addition to your gifts, to all your vow offerings, and to all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.

¹²If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.

⁵Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze;

⁴Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.

²¹The next day they offered sacrifices and presented burnt offerings to the Lord: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, along with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.

¹⁷For the dedication of the house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and a sin offering for all Israel of twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel.

⁶³And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the Lord.

¹¹And they slaughtered the Passover lambs, while the priests splattered the blood handed to them and the Levites skinned the animals.

³since they had been unable to keep it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.

⁵“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.

⁶Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to perform the service for the Tent of Meeting.

⁷But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”

⁶I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O Lord,

¹⁵Surely judgment will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹³Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.

⁵With the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb, you are to prepare a quarter hin of wine as a drink offering.

⁶With a ram you are to prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil,

³⁷So David left Asaph and his associates there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to minister there regularly according to the daily requirements,

³⁸along with Obed-edom and his sixty-eight relatives. Obed-edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were to be gatekeepers.

¹³along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—a food offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine.

¹⁴So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

¹⁵both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

¹⁶Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the Lord’s.

⁸For now we can go on living, as long as you are standing firm in the Lord.

⁹How can we adequately thank God for you in return for our great joy over you in His presence?

¹⁷You have heard, O Lord, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

⁹And the people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given to the Lord freely and wholeheartedly. And King David also rejoiced greatly.

²²For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

⁴¹Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the Lord.