2 Chronicles 29:4–17

⁴Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the square on the east side.

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.

⁶For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, 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 Holy Place of the God of Israel.

⁸Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, 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 the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us. ¹¹Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, to minister before Him, and to burn incense.”

¹²Then the Levites set to work:

Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites;

Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites;

Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites;

¹³Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphanites;

Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaphites;

¹⁴Jehiel and Shimei from the Hemanites;

and Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthunites.

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. 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 the LORD. For eight more days they consecrated the house of the LORD itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.