He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the wide place on the east, and said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify Yahweh, the God of your fathers’ house, and carry the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers were unfaithful, and have done that which was evil in Yahweh our God’s sight, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes. For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, don’t be negligent now; for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, and burn incense.”
Then the Levites arose, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by Yahweh’s words, to cleanse Yahweh’s house. The priests went into the inner part of Yahweh’s house to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in Yahweh’s temple into the court of Yahweh’s house. The Levites took it from there to carry it out to the brook Kidron. Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to Yahweh’s porch. They sanctified Yahweh’s house in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 8, 10, 15, 16, 17 Meaning, all the idols, altars, groves and whatsoever was…
Meaning, all the idols, altars, groves and whatsoever was occupied in their service, and wherewith the Temple was polluted.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 2Ch 29:4 And he brought in the priests and…
2Ch 29:4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
Ver. 4. The east street.] Which was before the east gate of the temple.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17 Which was before the eastern gate of the temple.
Which was before the eastern gate of the temple.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v12 We have here busy work, good work, and needful…
We have here busy work, good work, and needful work, the cleansing of the house of the Lord.
I. The persons employed in this work were the priests and Levites, who should have kept the temple clean, but, not having done that, were concerned to make it clean. Several of the Levites are here named, two of each of the three principal houses, Kohath, Gershon, and Merari (Ch2 29:12), and two of each of the three families of singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, Ch2 29:13, Ch2 29:14. We cannot think these are named merely because they were chief in place (for then surely the high priest, or some of the heads of the courses of the priests, would have been mentioned), but because they were more zealous and active than the rest. When God has work to do he will raise up leading men to preside in it. And it is not always that the first in place and rank are most fit for service or most forward to it. These Levites not only bestirred themselves, but gathered their brethren, and quickened them to do according to the commandment of the king by the word of the Lord. Observe, They did according to the king's command, but with an eye to God's word. The king commanded them what was already their duty by the word of God, and, in doing it, they regarded God's word as a rule to them and the king's commandment as a spur to them.
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II. The work was cleansing the house of God, 1. From the common dirt it had contracted while it was shut up - dust, and cobwebs, and the rust of the vessels. 2. From the idols and idolatrous altars that were set up in it, which, though kept ever so neat, were a greater pollution to it than if it had been made the common sewer of the city. The priests were none of them mentioned as leading men in this work, yet none but they durst go into the inner part of the house, no, not to cleanse it, which they did, and perhaps the high priest into the holy of holies, to cleanse that. And, though the Levites had the honour to be the leaders in the work, they did not disdain to be servitors to the priests according to their office; for what filth the priests brought into the court the Levites carried to the brook Kidron. Let not men's usefulness, be it ever so eminent, make them forget their place.
III. The expedition with which they did this work was very remarkable. They began on the first day of the first month, a happy beginning of the new-year, and one that promised a good year. Thus should every year begin with the reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away, by true repentance, of all the defilements contracted the foregoing year. In eight days they cleared and cleansed the temple, and in eight days more the courts of the temple, Ch2 29:17. Let those that do good work learn to rid work and get it done. Let what is amiss be amended quickly.
IV. The report they made of it to Hezekiah was very agreeable, Ch2 29:18, Ch2 29:19. They gave him an account of what they had done, because it was he that set them on work, boasted not of their own care and pains, nor did they come to him to be paid, but to let him know that all things that had been profaned were now sanctified according to law, and were ready to be used again whenever he pleased. They knew the good king had set his heart upon God's altar, and longed to be attending that, and therefore they insisted most upon the readiness they had put that into - that the vessels for the altar were scoured and brightened. Those vessels which Ahaz, in his transgression, had cast away as vessels in which there was no pleasure, they gathered together, sanctified them, and laid them in their place before the altar. Though the vessels of the sanctuary may be profaned for a while, God will find a time and a way to sanctify them. Neither his ordinances nor his people shall be suffered to fail for ever.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 And said unto them, hear me, ye Levites; sanctify…
And said unto them, hear me, ye Levites; sanctify yourselves,.... By washing their bodies and their garments, that no pollution might attend them in their service, see Isa 52:11.
and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers; by carrying out of it all manner of uncleanness, as they did, Ch2 29:16,
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and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place; or the abomination; the altar, like that at Damascus, which Ahaz, removing the altar of the Lord, had placed in the court of the priests; or, as Kimchi thinks, an idol, which he had set upon that altar.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 17 And he brought in,&c. - He found Judah low…
And he brought in,&c. - He found Judah low and naked, yet did not make it his first business to revive the civil interests of his kingdom, but to restore religion to a good posture. Those that begin with God, begin at the right end of their work; and it will prosper accordingly.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 16, 17 Verse 8. He hath delivered them to trouble, to…
Verse 8. He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment] He probably refers here chiefly to that dreadful defeat by the Israelites in which a hundred and twenty thousand were slain, and two hundred thousand taken prisoners; see the preceding chapter, 2Ch 28:6; 2Ch 28:8.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17 2Ch 29:5. Hear me, ye Levites; carry forth the…
2Ch 29:5. Hear me, ye Levites; carry forth the filthiness — That filthy altar which Ahaz had put in the place of God’s altar, (2Ki 16:11,) and the idols, or other abominable things, which were there; out of the holy place — The temple, or the priests’ court, which also is often called a holy place.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 8, 12, 15, 16 The east street - Rather, some open space before…
The east street - Rather, some open space before the eastern gate of the outer temple court is intended.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 Street, or court, before the eastern gate. C.
Street, or court, before the eastern gate. C.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 8, 10, 12 the east street--the court of the priests, which fronted…
the east street--the court of the priests, which fronted the eastern gate of the temple. Assembling the priests and Levites there, he enjoined them to set about the immediate purification of the temple. It does not appear that the order referred to the removal of idols, for objects of idolatrous homage could scarcely have been put there, seeing the doors had been shut up [Ch2 29:3]; but in its forsaken and desolate state the temple and its courts had been polluted by every kind of impurity.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16, 17 4. Into the east street — Probably the same…
4. Into the east street — Probably the same as “the street of the house of God,” (Ezr_10:9,) the broad open place before the temple, either in the outer court, or on the east of it.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 4. into the east street] R.V. into the broad…
4. into the east street] R.V. into the broad place on the east. The place meant was part of the Temple area; cp. Ezr_10:9, “the broad place before the house of God” (R.V.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–17 (4) Brought in.—Caused to come.
(4) Brought in.—Caused to come.
The east Street.—The eastern square or open space of the East. (Comp. Ezr_10:9; Neh_8:1; Neh_8:3; Neh_8:16.) The place of meeting was probably an open area in front of the eastern gate of the sacred enclosure.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 The east street; Hebrew, bwOjrli jrzMih. This word, rendered…
The east street; Hebrew, bwOjrli jrzMih. This word, rendered here "street," occurs forty-two times, and is always rendered by the same English word, except three times, when it appears as "broad places," or "ways." Probably it should always be translated thus, its meaning and its manifest preponderant use being "an open space". (2Ch_32:6)
So Revised Version: Into the broad place on the east, i.e. an open area east of the temple.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv5, 8, 10, 11, 17 Sanctify now yourselves and sanctify the house of the…
2Ch_29:5
Sanctify now yourselves and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers.
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Personal consecration
I. What is involved in this personal dedication? Thomas Aquinas made three kinds of baptism: Sanguinis, fluminis, fiaminis--the blood, the flood, the fire! By repentance and faith in Christs atonement the sinner is saved, and by water-baptism received into the visible Church. But, to be wholly prepared for the Masters work, there must be the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. The aim of Christianity is to lead us from the material to the spiritual; from the instrumental and accidental to the absolute and eternal. This house is an instrument in the service of God. Its best consecration is the consecration of its occupants, and this is accomplished by the radical work of the Holy Spirit. The tongue of the preacher, the pen of the author, the lips of the singer, the fingers of the musician, and the brush of the painter, are servants of a governing purpose--channels through which thought and feeling, genius and culture, express themselves. If the soul that controls these instruments be consecrated, then they are hallowed. As the wondrous river we read of in ancient fable turned to gold the very sand its currents washed, so does the fountain of a holy heart, pouring forth its enriching flood in speech and effort, dignify the humblest employment or surroundings. With this spirit of consecration enter and occupy this sanctuary, and you will make the place, indeed, holy.
II. What are the fruits of this radical, hearty, and permanent consecration? The people by this spirit of high consecration, are set free from the bondage of low and false views, prevalent in worldly circles. And, finally, if the pure and holy spirit of self-dedication, thus outlined, prevails, genuine revivals of religion will surely follow, healthful growth in activity, love, and liberality will be seen, and true Christian unity will be fostered among all who really love our Lord Jesus Christ. (Prof. E. P. Thwing.)
Reformation must be thorough
A reformation to be worth much must be thorough. Half-way work in this line is of little value. Again and again the kings of Judah, when they swept away all idol worship, left untouched the high places where Jehovah was sacrificed to irregularly; and, because of their failure at completeness, their people went quickly back to gross idolatry. So in all partial attempts at reform. The man who proposes to give up drinking, or gambling, or profanity, or dishonest courses, without surrendering himself wholly to the Lord, is not likely to succeed even to the extent of his attempts. And it is with the house of the Lord as it is with persons. Unless it is wholly the Lords, it does little honour to Him. H it is in use for religious purposes on Sunday, and for concerts and fairs and lectures and shows during the week; or if part of it is for a house of worship, and part for shops of trade--it is at the best a much abused sanctuary. Carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. (H. Clay Trumbull.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v17 first month
first month
i.e. April.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 8, 10, 12, 15 what was evil in the sight of Yahweh our…
what was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God
The word "sight" here represents judgment. Yahweh saw and did not approve of their ancestors' actions. AT: "what Yahweh our God judged to be evil" or "what Yahweh our God considered to be evil" (See: Metaphor)
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turned away their faces from the place where Yahweh lives, and turned their backs on it
These two phrases share similar meanings. The words "faces" and "backs" represent the people who turned so that their faces were away from the temple and their backs were towards it. AT: "turned away from the place where Yahweh lives" (See: Parallelism and Synecdoche)
turned away their faces from the place where Yahweh lives, and turned their backs on it
Rejecting Yahweh and no longer worshiping him is spoken of as if the people had turned away from the temple. AT: "abandoned Yahweh's temple and stopped worshiping him" (See: Metaphor)
the place where Yahweh lives
This refers to the temple. AT: "the temple where Yahweh lives" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
trespass
God
forsake
incense
burnt offering
Israel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 12 29:5-11 Hezekiah’s speech used vocabulary typical of exile to…
29:5-11 Hezekiah’s speech used vocabulary typical of exile to describe the failure of the nation. As in the days of the separation under Rehoboam (12:1; see 13:10), the people had been unfaithful when they abandoned the Lord.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.