1. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.
2. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, just as David his father had done.
3. In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the Lord’s house and repaired them.
4. He summoned the priests and Levites, gathering them in the open space to the east,
5. and said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and clean out the filth from the sanctuary.
6. Our ancestors acted treacherously and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from the Lord’s dwelling, and turned their backs on him.
7. They also closed the doors of the vestibule, extinguished the lamps, and failed to burn incense and sacrifice burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
8. Therefore the anger of the Lord has come upon Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of terror, horror, and hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
9. For our ancestors fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives have been taken captive because of this.
10. Now, I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that his burning anger may turn away from us.