Daily Text and Bible Reading: Monday, May 26 [Press play below]

29.1 Hezekiah became king at the age of 25, and he reigned for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah.
29.2 He kept doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes, just as David his forefather had done.
29.3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Jehovah and repaired them.
29.4 Then he brought the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square to the east.
29.5 He said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites. Now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of Jehovah the God of your forefathers, and remove what is impure from the holy place.
29.6 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah our God. They abandoned him and turned their faces away from the tabernacle of Jehovah and turned their back on him.
29.7 They also closed the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps. They stopped burning incense and offering up burnt sacrifices in the holy place to the God of Israel.
29.8 Therefore, Jehovah’s indignation came against Judah and Jerusalem, so that he made them an object of horror and astonishment and a cause for whistling, as you can see with your own eyes.
29.9 Here our forefathers fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives went into captivity for this.
29.10 Now it is my heart’s desire to make a covenant with Jehovah the God of Israel, so that his burning anger may turn away from us.
29.11 My sons, now is not the time to be negligent, for Jehovah has chosen you to stand before him, to serve as his ministers, and to make his sacrifices smoke.”
29.12 At that the Levites rose up: Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah of the Kohathites; from the Merarites, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;
29.13 from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
29.14 from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
29.15 Then they gathered their brothers together and sanctified themselves and came, as the king had commanded by the words of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah.
29.16 The priests then went inside the house of Jehovah to do the cleansing and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah and took it to the courtyard of the house of Jehovah. In turn the Levites took it and carried it outside to the Kidron Valley.
29.17 Thus they began the sanctification on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of Jehovah. They sanctified the house of Jehovah for eight days, and on the 16th day of the first month they finished.
29.18 After that they went in to King Hezekiah and said: “We have cleansed the whole house of Jehovah, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table of the layer bread and all its utensils.
29.19 And all the utensils that King Ahaz cast aside during his reign when he acted unfaithfully we have made ready and sanctified, and they are before the altar of Jehovah.”
29.20 And King Hezekiah got up early and gathered the princes of the city together, and they went up to the house of Jehovah.
29.21 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. So he told the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them up on the altar of Jehovah.
29.22 Then they slaughtered the cattle, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar, and they slaughtered the male lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
29.23 Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the congregation and laid their hands on them.
29.24 The priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel, because the king said that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be for all Israel.
29.25 Meanwhile, he had the Levites stationed at the house of Jehovah with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, by the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s visionary and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from Jehovah through his prophets.
29.26 So the Levites were standing with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
29.27 Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt sacrifice be offered on the altar. When the burnt offering started, the song of Jehovah started and also the trumpets, following the direction of the instruments of King David of Israel.
29.28 And the whole congregation bowed down while the song was sung and the trumpets were sounding—all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29.29 And as soon as they finished making the offering, the king and all those with him bowed low and prostrated themselves.
29.30 King Hezekiah and the princes now told the Levites to praise Jehovah with the words of David and of Asaph the visionary. So they offered praise with great rejoicing, and they bowed down and prostrated themselves.
29.31 Then Hezekiah said: “Now that you have been set apart for Jehovah, come and bring sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the house of Jehovah.” So the congregation began to bring sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and everyone with a willing heart brought burnt offerings.
29.32 The number of burnt offerings that the congregation brought was 70 cattle, 100 rams, 200 male lambs—all of these as a burnt offering to Jehovah—
29.33 and the holy offerings were 600 cattle and 3,000 of the flock.
29.34 But there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites helped them out until the work was finished and until the priests could sanctify themselves, for the Levites were more conscientious about sanctifying themselves than the priests were.
29.35 Also, there were many burnt offerings, as well as the fat pieces of the communion sacrifices and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of Jehovah was restored.
29.36 So Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what the true God had established for the people, for this had all happened so suddenly.

30.1 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem to observe the Passover to Jehovah the God of Israel.
30.2 However, the king, his princes, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem decided to observe the Passover in the second month,
30.3 for they had not been able to observe it at the regular time, because not enough priests had sanctified themselves nor had the people gathered in Jerusalem.
30.4 This arrangement seemed right in the eyes of the king and the entire congregation.
30.5 So they decided to make an announcement throughout Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that the people should come and observe the Passover to Jehovah the God of Israel at Jerusalem, for as a group they had not observed it according to what is written.
30.6 Then the couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying: “People of Israel, return to Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may return to the remnant who escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
30.7 Do not be like your forefathers and your brothers who acted unfaithfully toward Jehovah the God of their forefathers, so that he made them an object of horror, just as you are seeing.
30.8 Now do not be obstinate like your forefathers. Submit to Jehovah and come to his sanctuary that he has sanctified forever and serve Jehovah your God, so that his burning anger may turn away from you.
30.9 For when you return to Jehovah, your brothers and your sons will be shown mercy by their captors and will be allowed to return to this land, for Jehovah your God is compassionate and merciful, and he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”
30.10 So the couriers went from city to city throughout the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but the people were making fun of them and mocking them.
30.11 However, some individuals from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
30.12 The hand of the true God was also in Judah to unite them to carry out what the king and the princes had commanded by the word of Jehovah.
30.13 A multitude of people gathered together at Jerusalem to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month; it was a very large congregation.
30.14 They rose up and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
30.15 Then they slaughtered the Passover sacrifice on the 14th day of the second month. The priests and the Levites felt ashamed, so they sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of Jehovah.
30.16 They took their customary places, according to the Law of Moses the man of the true God; then the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites.
30.17 There were many in the congregation who had not sanctified themselves, and the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover sacrifices for all who were not clean, to sanctify them to Jehovah.
30.18 For a great number of the people, especially those from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, but they still ate the Passover, contrary to what is written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May Jehovah, who is good, make allowance for
30.19 everyone who has prepared his heart to search for the true God, Jehovah, the God of his forefathers, although he has not been purified according to the standard of holiness.”
30.20 And Jehovah listened to Hezekiah and pardoned the people.
30.21 So the Israelites who were in Jerusalem observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, and the Levites and the priests were praising Jehovah day by day, loudly playing their instruments to Jehovah.
30.22 Moreover, Hezekiah spoke to and encouraged all the Levites who served Jehovah with discretion. And they ate throughout the festival for seven days, sacrificing communion sacrifices and giving thanks to Jehovah the God of their forefathers.
30.23 Then all the congregation decided to observe it for seven more days, so they observed it for seven more days with rejoicing.
30.24 And King Hezekiah of Judah contributed for the congregation 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the princes contributed for the congregation 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep; and priests were sanctifying themselves in great number.
30.25 And all the congregation of Judah, the priests, the Levites, all the congregation that came from Israel, and the foreign residents who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah continued rejoicing.
30.26 And there was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solomon the son of David the king of Israel, nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem.
30.27 Finally the Levite priests stood up and blessed the people; and God heard their voice, and their prayer reached his holy dwelling, the heavens.