1 Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old. He ruled 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah. Abijah was Zechariah’s daughter.
2 Hezekiah did what the Lord wanted him to do. He did what was right just as David his ancestor had done.
3 Hezekiah repaired the doors of the Lord’S Temple and made them strong. He opened the Temple again. He did this in the first month of the first year after he became king.
4-5 Hezekiah called the priests and Levites together in one assembly. He had a meeting with them in the courtyard on the east side of the Temple. Hezekiah said to them, “Listen to me, Levites! Make yourselves ready for holy service. Make the Temple of the Lord God ready for holy service. He is the God your ancestors obeyed. Take away the things from the Temple that don’t belong in there. These things make the Temple unclean.
6 Our ancestors were not faithful and did what the Lord says is evil. They stopped following him. They no longer paid any attention to the Lord’S house and turned their backs on him.
7 They shut the doors of the porch of the Temple and let the fire go out in the lamps. They stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel.
8 So the Lord became very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. He punished them so badly that it shocks and scares people to hear about it. But then they just laugh and shout their own insults against Judah. You know this is true. You have seen it happen.