1. Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah; she was Zechariah’s daughter.
2. He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his ancestor David had done.
3. In the very first year of his rule, during the first month, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Lord’s temple, having repaired them.
4. Then he brought in the priests and Levites and assembled them in the eastern square.
5. "Listen to me, you Levites!" he said. "Make yourselves holy so you can make holy the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors by removing from the sanctuary any impure thing.
6. Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the Lord our God’s eyes. They abandoned him, they ignored the Lord’s dwelling, and they defied him.
7. They even closed the doors of the entrance hall, snuffed out the lamps, and stopped burning incense and offering entirely burned offerings in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
8. This angered the Lord so much that he made Judah and Jerusalem an object of terror and horror, something people hiss at, as you can see with your own eyes.
9. That’s why our ancestors died violent deaths, while our sons, daughters, and wives were taken captive.
10. But now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, Israel’s God, so God will no longer be angry with us.