2 Chronicles 29
Open in the reader1He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Foundation-of-Peace twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was My-Father-Is-He-Who-Is, the daughter of He-Who-Is-Remembers.
2And he did what was right in the eyes of He-Who-Is, just as his father Beloved had done.
3In the first month of the first year of his reign, He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened opened and repaired the doors of the house of He-Who-Is.
4Then he brought in the priests and Joined-Ones and gathered them in the square on the east side.
5“Listen to me, O Joined-Ones,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of He-Who-Is, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Devoted Place every impurity.
6For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of He-Who-Is, and turned their backs on Him.
7They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Devoted Place of the God of Strives-with-God.
8Therefore, the wrath of He-Who-Is has fallen upon Praised and Foundation-of-Peace, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.
9For behold, this is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity.
10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us.
11Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for He-Who-Is has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, to minister before Him, and to burn incense.”
12Then the Joined-Ones set to work: Grasping son of Burden-Bearer and He-Who-Is-God son of He-Who-Is-Helps from the Allied-Ones; Bow son of My-Servant and He-Who-Is-Helps son of He-Will-Praise-God from the Merarites; He-Who-Is-Brother son of Zimmah and Delight son of He-Who-Is-Brother from the Sojourners-There;
13Watchful and God-Sweeps-Away from the children of My-God-Has-Treasured; He-Who-Is-Remembers and Gift-of-He-Who-Is from the children of Gatherer;
14God-Lives and My-Hearing from the children of Faithful; and He-Who-Is-Has-Heard and My-Strength-Is-God from the children of Praise-Giver.
15When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of He-Who-Is, according to the command of the king by the words of He-Who-Is.
16So the priests went inside the house of He-Who-Is to cleanse it, and they brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things that they found in the temple of He-Who-Is. Then the Joined-Ones took these things and carried them out to the Dark-Place Valley.
17They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of He-Who-Is. For eight more days they consecrated the house of He-Who-Is itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18Then they went in to King He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened and reported, “We have cleansed the entire house of He-Who-Is, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all its utensils.
19Moreover, we have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King He-Has-Grasped in his unfaithfulness cast aside during his reign. They are now in front of the altar of He-Who-Is.”
20Early the next morning King He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened gathered the city officials and went up to the house of He-Who-Is.
21They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Praised. And the king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of He-Who-Is.
22So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splattered it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splattered the blood on the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs and splattered the blood on the altar.
23Then they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them.
24And the priests slaughtered the goats and put their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for all Strives-with-God, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Strives-with-God.
25He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened stationed the Joined-Ones in the house of He-Who-Is with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of Beloved, of Fortune the king’s seer, and of He-Has-Given the prophet. For the command had come from He-Who-Is through His prophets.
26The Joined-Ones stood with the instruments of Beloved, and the priests with the trumpets.
27And He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened ordered that the burnt offering be sacrificed on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of He-Who-Is and the trumpets began as well, accompanied by the instruments of Beloved king of Strives-with-God.
28The whole assembly was worshiping, the singers were singing, and the trumpeters were playing. All this continued until the burnt offering was completed.
29When the offerings were completed, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshiped.
30Then King He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened and his officials ordered the Joined-Ones to sing praises to He-Who-Is in the words of Beloved and of Gatherer the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.
31Then He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to He-Who-Is, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of He-Who-Is.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
32The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to He-Who-Is.
33And the consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.
34However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Joined-Ones brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had consecrated themselves. For the Joined-Ones had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.
35Furthermore, the burnt offerings were abundant, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of He-Who-Is was established.
36Then He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened and all the people rejoiced at what God had prepared for the people, because everything had been accomplished so quickly.