2 Chronicles 29:25-36

29:25 King Hezekiah ¹  stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals and stringed instruments, just as David, Gad the king’s prophet, ²  and Nathan the prophet had ordered. (The Lord had actually given these orders through his prophets.) 29:26 The Levites had ³  David’s musical instruments and the priests had trumpets. 29:27 Hezekiah ordered the burnt sacrifice to be offered on the altar. As they began to offer the sacrifice, they also began to sing to the Lord, accompanied by the trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel. 29:28 The entire assembly worshiped, as the singers sang and the trumpeters played. They continued until the burnt sacrifice was completed.

29:29 When the sacrifices were completed, the king and all who were with him bowed down and worshiped. 29:30 King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the Lord, using the psalms ⁴  of David and Asaph the prophet. ⁵  So they joyfully offered praise and bowed down and worshiped. 29:31 Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves ⁶  to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings ⁷  to the Lord’s temple.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and whoever desired to do so ⁸  brought burnt sacrifices.

29:32 The assembly brought a total of 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs as burnt sacrifices to the Lord, ⁹  29:33 and 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep ¹⁰  were consecrated. 29:34 But there were not enough priests to skin all the animals, ¹¹  so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests could consecrate themselves. (The Levites had been more conscientious about consecrating themselves than the priests.) ¹²  29:35 There was a large number of burnt sacrifices, as well as fat from the peace offerings and drink offerings that accompanied the burnt sacrifices. So the service of the Lord’s temple was reinstituted. ¹³  29:36 Hezekiah and all the people were happy about what God had done ¹⁴  for them, ¹⁵  for it had been done quickly. ¹⁶ 

[29:25]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (King Hezekiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:25]  ² tn Or “seer.”

[29:26]  ³ tn Heb “stood with” (i.e., stood holding).

[29:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “with the words.”

[29:30]  ⁵ tn Or “seer.”

[29:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “filled your hand.”

[29:31]  ⁷ tn Or “tokens of thanks.”

[29:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “and all who were willing of heart.”

[29:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the number of burnt sacrifices which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, two hundred lambs; for a burnt sacrifice to the Lord were all these.”

[29:33]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term צֹאן (ts’on) denotes smaller livestock in general; depending on context it can refer to sheep only or goats only, but there is nothing in the immediate context here to specify one or the other.

[29:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the burnt sacrifices.”

[29:34]  ¹² tn Heb “for the Levites were more pure of heart to consecrate themselves than the priests.”

[29:35]  ¹³ tn Or “established.”

[29:36]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “prepared.”

[29:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun “they” has been used here for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[29:36]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for quickly was the matter.”