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Chapter 31 |
| 1 | Now when all
this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of
Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down
the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also
and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children
of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
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| 2 | And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after
their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for
burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and
to praise in the gates of the tents of the LORD. |
| 3 | He appointed
also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for
the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the
sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in
the law of the LORD. |
| 4 | Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt
in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they
might be encouraged in the law of the LORD. |
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5 | And as soon as the
commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the
firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the
field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. |
| 6 | And
concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah,
they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things
which were consecrated unto the LORD their God, and laid them by heaps.
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| 7 | In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and
finished them in the seventh month. |
| 8 | And when Hezekiah and the
princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD, and his people
Israel. |
| 9 |
Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites
concerning the heaps. |
| 10 | And Azariah the chief priest of the house of
Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings
into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty:
for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great
store. |
| 11
| Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house
of the LORD; and they prepared them, |
| 12 | And brought in the offerings
and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the
Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next. |
| 13 | And Jehiel,
and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and
Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Cononiah
and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah
the ruler of the house of God. |
| 14 | And Kore the son of Imnah the
Levite, the porter toward the east, was over the freewill offerings of God, to
distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the most holy things. |
| 15 | And
next him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and
Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set office, to give to their
brethren by courses, as well to the great as to the small: |
| 16 | Beside
their genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even unto every one
that entereth into the house of the LORD, his daily portion for their service
in their charges according to their courses; |
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17 | Both to the genealogy
of the priests by the house of their fathers, and the Levites from twenty years
old and upward, in their charges by their courses; |
| 18 | And to the
genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their
daughters, through all the congregation: for in their set office they
sanctified themselves in holiness: |
| 19 | Also of the sons of Aaron the
priests, which were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every
several city, the men that were expressed by name, to give portions to all the
males among the priests, and to all that were reckoned by genealogies among the
Levites. |
| 20
| And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought
that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God. |
| 21 |
And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the
law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart,
and prospered. |
