4. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and he gathered them into the eastern square.
5. And he said to them, “Hear me, O Levites! Sanctify yourselves now, and sanctify the house of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, and bring out the defilement from the sanctuary.
6. For our ancestors acted unfaithfully and did evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh. They have turned their backs on it.
7. They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. And they did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
8. And the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he made them as an abhorrence, as a desolation and an object of scorn, as you see with your own eyes.
9. Now behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity on account of this.
10. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger might turn away from him.
11. Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him to serve him and to be his servants and incense burners.”
12. Then the Levites arose—Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the Kohathites; and Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel from the Merarites; and Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah, from the Gershonites.