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304 sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the table of shewbread, with all the vessels thereof. Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away when he trespassed, have we prepared and sanctified; and, behold, they are before the altar of the. Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the. And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the. So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar:

were spent in "sanctifying," the courts apparently requiring eight days and the house itself eight days.

18. the table of shewbread] Cp. iv. 8 (note), 19; 1 Chr. xxviii. 16—"the tables of shewbread."

19. cast away] According to xxviii. 24, "cut in pieces"; cp. 2 Kin. xvi. 17. The reference is probably to the "bases" and the "sea."

have we prepared] Render, have we set up. Ahaz had taken away the supports both of the laver and of the sea (2 Kin. xvi. 17).

20—24 (not in 2 Kin.).&emsp;

The ritual of the sin offering is fully given in Lev. iv. Ahaz had broken the covenant, and Hezekiah's sin offering was intended to atone for the breach.

21. they brought] As the sacrifice was not for an individual but for a whole people the offering on this occasion consisted of seven of each of four different sacrificial animals, the bullocks, rams, and lambs being used for the burnt offering (vv. 22 and 24), and the he-goats for the special sin offering (ver. 23).

for the kingdom] i.e. for the kingly house.

for the sanctuary] i.e. for the Temple (cp. Lev. xvi. 16), but probably inclusive of the personnel of the Temple, i.e. the priests and Levites, since otherwise they would have been passed over in the great sin offering.

on the altar of the ] Not on the altar of Ahaz (2 Kin. xvi. 11).

22. received the blood] In basons with which they dashed (not