CHAPTER 31

¹And when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the towns of Judah and smashed the cultic pillars and hacked down the cultic poles and shattered the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim and Manasseh to the last one, and all the Israelites went back, each to his holding, to their towns. ²And Hezekiah set up the orders of the priests according to their orders, each according to his service for the priests and for the Levites, for the burnt offerings and for the well-being sacrifices to minister and to acclaim and to praise in the gates of the LORD’s camps. ³And the king’s portion for the morning and evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for sabbaths and new moons and festivals was as written in the Teaching of the LORD. ⁴And he said to the people, to those dwelling in Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, so that they could devote themselves to the Teaching of the LORD. ⁵And as the word spread, the Israelites gave abundantly the best of the grain, wine, oil, and honey, and all produce of the field, and the tithe of all in abundance they brought. ⁶And the people of Israel and Judah dwelling in the towns of Judah on their part also brought tithes of cattle and sheep and tithes of sacred gifts consecrated to the LORD their God, and they put them in piles. ⁷In the third month the piles began to heap up, and in the seventh month they were completed. ⁸And Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the piles, and they blessed the LORD and His people Israel. ⁹And Hezekiah inquired of the priests and the Levites about the piles, ¹⁰and Azariah the high priest of the house of Zadok, said to him, “Ever since the gift offering began to come to the house of the LORD, there has been eating to the full and much left over, for the LORD has blessed His people, and this vast amount was left over.” ¹¹And Hezekiah said to ready chambers in the house of the LORD, and they readied them. ¹²And they faithfully brought the gift offering and the tithe and the sacred gifts. And over them as supervisor was Conaniah the Levite and Shimei his brother as assistant. ¹³And Jehiel and Azaziah and Nahath and Asahel and Jerimoth and Jozabad and Eliel and Ismachiah and Mahath and Benaiah were officials under the authority of Conaniah and Shimei his brother by the designation of King Hezekiah, and Azariah was supervisor of the house of God. ¹⁴And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite was the gatekeeper on the east over the freewill offerings to God to distribute the gift offerings of the LORD and the most sacred donations. ¹⁵And alongside him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shechaniah in the towns of the priests to distribute to their brothers in the orders, great and small alike, ¹⁶besides the males from three years old who traced their lineage, for all who came into the house of the LORD for daily obligations for their service in their daily watches according to their orders ¹⁷and the lineage of the priests according to their patriarchal houses and the Levites from twenty years old in their watches, in their orders ¹⁸and the lineage of all their little ones, their wives and their sons and their daughters, for all the assembly, for they faithfully consecrated themselves in holiness, ¹⁹and for the Aaronide priests in the pasturelands of their towns, in each and every town, men who had been singled out by name, to give portions to every male among the priests and to all who traced their lineage among the Levites. ²⁰And Hezekiah did in this manner throughout Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God. ²¹And in every act that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in the Teaching and in the commands to seek his God with all his heart he did and prospered.