1. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he was king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. The name of his mother was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah.
2. And he did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord just as his father David had done.
3. And in the first year and first month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and restored them.
4. He then brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the square on the eastern side
5. and said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves and consecrate the house of the Lord God of your fathers. And bring out the detestable things from the holy sanctuary.
6. For our fathers have acted unfaithfully and have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and they have abandoned Him. They have turned their face from the sanctuary of the Lord and have turned their back.
7. They also shut the doors of the vestibule and have extinguished the lamps, nor have they burned incense or burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel.
8. Therefore the wrath of the Lord has come on Judah and Jerusalem for a terror, horror, and scorn as you all can see with your own eyes.
9. Observe, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and now our sons, daughters, and wives are in captivity for all this.
10. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel so that His burning anger might turn away from us.