31:1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel [that were]
present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke 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.
31:2 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.
31:3 [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.
31:4 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.
31:5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of
Israel brought in abundance the first-fruits of corn, wine, and
oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the
tithe of all [things] they brought in abundantly.
31:6 And 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 to
the LORD their God, and laid [them] by heaps.
31:7 In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the
heaps, and finished [them] in the seventh month.
31:8 And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps,
they blessed the LORD, and his people Israel.
31:9 Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites
concerning the heaps.
31:10 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 abundance.
31:11 Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house
of the LORD; and they prepared [them],
31:12 And brought in the offerings and the tithes, and the
dedicated [things] faithfully: over which Conaniah the Levite
[was] ruler, and Shimei his brother [was] the next.
31:13 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 Conaniah and
Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king,
and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.
31:14 And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter towards
the east, [was] over the free-will-offerings of God, to
distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the most holy things.
31:15 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:
31:16 Besides their genealogy of males, from three years old and
upward, [even] to every one that entereth into the house of the
LORD, his daily portion for their service in their charges
according to their courses;
31:17 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;
31:18 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:
31:19 Also of the sons of Aaron the priests, [who 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.
31:20 And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and performed
[that which was] good and right and truth before the LORD his
God.
31:21 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.
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