2 Chronicles 29:3-17

3In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he 1opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east. 5Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. 2Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place. 6For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and 3turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have 4turned their backs. 7They have also 5shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8Therefore 6the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of 7hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9For behold, 8our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10Now it is in my heart 9to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us. 11My sons, do not be negligent now, for 10the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”

12Then the Levites arose: 11Mahath, the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of 12the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; 13and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and 13Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14and from the sons of Heman, 14Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15They assembled their brothers, 15consecrated themselves, and went in 16to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king 17by the words of the Lord. 16So the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord they brought out to the court of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to 18the Kidron 19valley. 17Now they began 20the consecration 21on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the porch of the Lord. Then they consecrated the house of the Lord in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.