Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Then the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, Azariah son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; Of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah, and Mattaniah; Of the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel. read more.
They gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and went in, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the Lord's house. And the Levites carried it out to the brook Kidron. They began on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day they finished. Then they went to King Hezekiah and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the showbread table with all its utensils. Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign cast away when he was transgressing [faithless] we have made ready and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord. Then King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. They brought seven each of bulls, rams, lambs, and he-goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the Lord's altar. So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the rams and then the lambs, they dashed the blood against the altar. Then the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. The priests killed them and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and sin offering be made for all Israel. Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord's house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David [his forefather] and Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded; for the commandment was from the Lord through His prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by King David of Israel. And all the congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When they had stopped offering, the king and all present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. Also King Hezekiah and the princes ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness and bowed themselves and worshiped. Then Hezekiah said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. And the consecrated things were 600 oxen and 3,000 sheep. But the priests were too few and could not skin all the burnt offerings. So until the other priests had sanctified themselves, their Levite kinsmen helped them until the work was done, for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in sanctifying themselves. Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the Lord's house was set in order. Thus Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of what God had prepared for the people, for it was done suddenly.

Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their positions and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. To the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the Lord he said: Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon son of David king of Israel, built; it shall no longer be a burden carried on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. read more.
Prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses by your divisions, after the directions of David king of Israel and of Solomon his son. And stand in the holy court of the priests according to the sections of the fathers' families of your kinsmen, the common people, and let there be a section of the Levites [to attend] to each division of the families of the people. Kill the Passover lambs and sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses. Then Josiah contributed to the lay people lambs and kids of the flock as Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 young bulls -- "all from the king's possessions. And his princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officers of God's house, gave the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 [lambs and kids] and 300 bulls. Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings 5,000 [lambs and kids] and 500 bulls. When the service was ready, the priests stood in their place and the Levites in their divisions as the king commanded. They killed the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites who skinned the animals. Then they removed the burnt offerings, that they might distribute them according to the divisions of the lay families to offer to the Lord, as directed in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. And they roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to the ordinance; and they cooked the holy offerings in pots, in caldrons, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the people. Afterward [the Levites] prepared for themselves and the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and also for the priests, the sons of Aaron. The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer. And the gatekeepers were at every gate; they did not need to leave their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them. So all the Lord's service was prepared the same day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings upon the Lord's altar, as King Josiah commanded. And the Israelites who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, even by any of the kings of Israel, as was kept by Josiah and the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.

Jacob set up a pillar (memorial, monument) in the place where he had talked with God, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering [of wine] on it; he also poured oil on it [to declare it sacred for God’s purpose].

then it shall be, if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering.

And with the one lamb a tenth measure of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering [to be poured out]. And the other lamb you shall offer at evening, and do with it as with the cereal offering of the morning and with the drink offering, for a sweet and satisfying fragrance, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with [olive] oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a sweet and soothing aroma, with its drink offering [to be poured out], a fourth of a hin of wine.

and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, and poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

Therefore with this money, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.

And you shall offer with the bread seven unblemished lambs, one year old, and one young bull and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings. It is an offering by fire, a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord.

The next day they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings (libations) and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.

He shall also offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering.

Also a tenth of an ephah of flour for a cereal offering, mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil. It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a sweet and soothing odor, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Its drink offering shall be a fourth of a hin for each lamb; in the Holy Place you shall pour out a fermented drink offering to the Lord. read more.
And the other lamb you shall offer in the evening; like the cereal offering of the morning and like its drink offering, you shall offer it, an offering made by fire, a sweet and soothing odor to the Lord. And on the Sabbath day two male lambs a year old without spot or blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of flour for a cereal offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering. This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. And at the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without spot or blemish; And three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a cereal offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a cereal offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram. And a tenth part of fine flour mixed with oil as a cereal offering, for each lamb, for a burnt offering of a sweet and pleasant fragrance, an offering made by fire to the Lord. And their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, and a third of a hin for a ram, and a fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year. And one male goat for a sin offering to the Lord -- "it shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.

In this way you shall offer daily for seven days the food of an offering made by fire, a sweet and soothing odor to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. And on the seventh day you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no work befitting a slave or a servant. Also in the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a cereal offering of new grain to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no servile work. read more.
But you shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet, pleasing, and soothing fragrance to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, And their cereal offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for one ram, A tenth for each of the seven male lambs, And one male goat to make atonement for you. You shall offer them in addition to the continual burnt offering and its cereal offering and their drink offerings. See that they are without blemish.

These are in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon and its cereal offering, and the daily burnt offering and its cereal offering, and their drink offerings, according to the ordinance for them, for a pleasant and soothing fragrance, an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month a holy [summoned] assembly; [it is the great Day of Atonement, a day of humiliation] and you shall humble and abase yourselves; you shall not do any work in it. But you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord for a sweet and soothing fragrance: one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. See that they are without blemish. read more.
And their cereal offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, A tenth for each of the seven male lambs, One male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering and its cereal offering, and their drink offerings.

With their cereal offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by number according to the ordinance, Also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its cereal offering, and their drink offerings. And on the third day eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, read more.
With their cereal offering and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by number according to the ordinance, And one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its cereal offering, and its drink offerings. On the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, Their cereal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs shall be by number according to the ordinance, And one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its cereal offering, and its drink offerings. And on the fifth day nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without spot or blemish, And their cereal offering and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by number according to the ordinance, And one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and its cereal offering, and its drink offerings. And on the sixth day eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, And their cereal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by number according to the ordinance, And one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its cereal offering, and its drink offerings. And on the seventh day seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, And their cereal and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by number according to the ordinance. And one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and its cereal offering, and its drink offerings. On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall do no servile work. You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet and pleasing fragrance to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish, Their cereal offering and drink offerings for the bull, the ram, and the lambs shall be by number according to the ordinance, And one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and its cereal offering, and its drink offerings. These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed feasts, besides the offerings you have vowed and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, cereal offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings. And Moses told the Israelites all that the Lord commanded him.

There were also many burnt offerings with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the Lord was established again.


In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord [which his father had closed] and repaired them. He brought together the priests and Levites in the square on the east And said to them, Levites, hear me! Now sanctify (purify and make free from sin) yourselves and the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. read more.
For our fathers have trespassed and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have forsaken Him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the Lord and have turned their backs. Also they have closed the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the place holy to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them to be a terror and a cause of trembling, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your own eyes. For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that His fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, to be His ministers, and to burn incense to Him. Then the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, Azariah son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; Of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah, and Mattaniah; Of the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel. They gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and went in, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the Lord's house. And the Levites carried it out to the brook Kidron. They began on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day they finished. Then they went to King Hezekiah and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the showbread table with all its utensils. Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign cast away when he was transgressing [faithless] we have made ready and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord. Then King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. They brought seven each of bulls, rams, lambs, and he-goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the Lord's altar. So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the rams and then the lambs, they dashed the blood against the altar. Then the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. The priests killed them and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and sin offering be made for all Israel. Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord's house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David [his forefather] and Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded; for the commandment was from the Lord through His prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by King David of Israel. And all the congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When they had stopped offering, the king and all present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. Also King Hezekiah and the princes ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness and bowed themselves and worshiped. Then Hezekiah said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. And the consecrated things were 600 oxen and 3,000 sheep. But the priests were too few and could not skin all the burnt offerings. So until the other priests had sanctified themselves, their Levite kinsmen helped them until the work was done, for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in sanctifying themselves. Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the Lord's house was set in order.