1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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II Chronicles 29:1 Now *Ezechias began to reign, when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Abia, the daughter of Zacharias.

4 Kings 28. 		Year of the World 3278, Year before Christ 726.\f Abia. The last syllable is neglected, 4 Kings 18:2. (Haydock) --- Some assert that she was a descendant of the high priest, who had been stoned. (St. Jerome, Trad.) (Chap. 24:20.) (Tirinus)
II Chronicles 29:2 And he did that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David, his father, had done.
II Chronicles 29:3 In the first year and month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.

Reign, in the assembly, which met to recognize his authority. (Lyranus) --- Them, adorning them with plates of gold, 4 Kings 18:16.
II Chronicles 29:4 And he brought the priests and the Levites, and assembled them in the east street.

Street, or court, before the eastern gate. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 29:5 And he said to them: Hear me, ye Levites, and be sanctified, purify the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and take away all filth out of the sanctuary.

Sanctuary, or temple, ver. 7. The Jews suppose that idols had been placed in the very sanctuary: (Lyranus) but why then were the doors shut? (Calmet)
II Chronicles 29:6 Our fathers have sinned, and done evil in the sight of the Lord God, forsaking him: they have turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord, and turned their backs.
II Chronicles 29:7 They have shut up the doors that were in the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burnt incense, nor offered holocausts in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

Sanctuary, or court of the priests, where the victims were slain. The blood of some was taken into the most holy place, on the day of expiation. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 29:8 Therefore, the wrath of the Lord hath been stirred up against Juda and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, and to destruction, and to be hissed at, as you see with your eyes.

Trouble. Hebrew zuae, (Haydock) is rendered vexation, Isaias 28:19. Septuagint, "ecstasy." The Jews were frequently driven from their homes. (Menochius) --- There were at a loss what to do, confounded and despised. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 29:9 Behold, our fathers are fallen by the sword, our sons, and our daughters, and wives, are led away captives for this wickedness.

Wives. 2 Paralipomenon 28:8. (Calmet) --- So had the wives and family of king Joram been treated, 2 Paralipomenon 21. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 29:10 Now, therefore, I have a mind, that we make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, and he will turn away the wrath of his indignation from us.

Covenant, swearing to observe the law given by Moses. (Menochius)
II Chronicles 29:11 My sons, be not negligent: the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, and to minister to him, and to worship him, and to burn incense to him.

Negligent. Hebrew adds, "now," when every thing tends to open your eyes. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 29:12 Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azarias, of the sons of Caath: and of the sons of Merari, Cis, the son of Abdi, and Azarias, the son of Jalaleel. And of the sons of Gerson, Joah, the son of Zemma, and Eden, the son of Joah.
II Chronicles 29:13 And of the sons of Elisaphan, Samri, and Jahiel. Also, of the sons of Asaph, Zacharias, and Mathanias.
II Chronicles 29:14 And of the sons of Heman, Jahiel, and Semei: and of the sons of Idithun, Semeias, and Oziel.
II Chronicles 29:15 And they gathered together their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and went in according to the commandment of the king, and the precept of the Lord, to purify the house of God.
II Chronicles 29:16 And the priests went into the temple of the Lord to sanctify it, and brought out all the uncleanness, that they found within, to the entrance of the house of the Lord, and the Levites took it away, and carried it out abroad, to the torrent Cedron.

Cedron, as Josias did with the idolatrous altars, 4 Kings 23:12. The priests brought what was unclean from the inner temple into the porch. (Haydock) --- This labour lasted eight days, as the cleansing of the porches had done. (Calmet) (Du Hamel)
II Chronicles 29:17 And they began to cleanse on the first day of the first month, and, on the eighth day of the same month, they came into the porch of the temple of the Lord, and they purified the temple in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the same month, they finished what they had begun.

Month, Nisan, corresponding with our March, (Menochius) when Ezechias began his reign. (Salien, the year of the world 3309.)
II Chronicles 29:18 And they went in to king Ezechias, and said to him: We have sanctified all the house of the Lord, and the altar of holocaust, and the vessels thereof, and the table of proposition, with all its vessels.
II Chronicles 29:19 And all the furniture of the temple, which king Achaz, in his reign, had defiled, after his transgression; and behold they are all set forth before the altar of the Lord.

Defiled. Hebrew, "cast out (Calmet) in his." --- Forth. Hebrew and Septuagint, "We have prepared and purified, behold they are," etc. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 29:20 And king Ezechias, rising early, assembled all the rulers of the city, and went up into the house of the Lord:
II Chronicles 29:21 And they offered together seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for sin, for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, for Juda: and he spoke to the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them upon the altar of the Lord.

Seven. Only one was prescribed for sins of ignorance, Leviticus 4:13, 22. (St. Jerome, Trad.) --- But the late transgressions were of a different nature; and the king consults his zeal, rather than what he was absolutely obliged to do. --- Juda, to expiate the sins of the royal family, of priests, and people.
II Chronicles 29:22 Therefore they killed the bullocks, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar, they killed also the rams, and their blood they poured also upon the altar, and they killed the lambs, and poured the blood upon the altar.
II Chronicles 29:23 And they brought the he-goats, for sin, before the king, and the whole multitude, and they laid their hand upon them:

They laid. The king and princes of the people confessed their sins, Leviticus 4:15.
II Chronicles 29:24 And the priests immolated them, and sprinkled their blood before the altar, for an expiation of all Israel: for the king had commanded that the holocaust and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel.
II Chronicles 29:25 And he set the Levites, in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, according to the regulation of David, the king, and of Gad, the seer, and of Nathan, the prophet: for it was the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of his prophets.

Prophet. Moses had not required music, except on some occasions, Numbers 10:10. But David acted by God's authority. The institution was designed to promote piety, and a love for religious meetings. Such sacred ceremonies are not to be considered as human inventions, for it was, etc. They command our utmost respect. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 29:26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with trumpets.
II Chronicles 29:27 And Ezechias commanded that they should offer holocausts upon the altar: and when the holocausts were offered, they began to sing praises to the Lord, and to sound with trumpets, and divers instruments, which David, the king of Israel, had prepared.

Prepared, or ordained. (Menochius) --- Hebrew, "with the instruments, by David."
II Chronicles 29:28 And all the multitude adored, and the singers, and the trumpeters, were in their office, till the holocaust was finished.
II Chronicles 29:29 And when the oblation was ended, the king, and all that were with him, bowed down, and adored.
II Chronicles 29:30 And Ezechias, and the princes, commanded the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, and Asaph, the seer: and they praised him with great joy, and bowing the knee, adored.

Princes of the priests. (Haydock) --- Words; psalms. (Tirinus) --- Asaph, so famous for music. He had composed some psalms, (Calmet) and twelve bear his name. (Tirinus) --- But he might only have set them to music, (Haydock) or his band sung them. (Du Hamel) --- Knee. Protestants, "head." Septuagint, "they prostrated themselves."
II Chronicles 29:31 And Ezechias added, and said: You have filled your hands to the Lord, come and offer victims, and praises in the house of the Lord. And all the multitude offered victims, and praises, and holocausts, with a devout mind.

Added. Hebrew and Septuagint, "answered," a term used in Scripture, though no question had been proposed. (Haydock) --- Filled. You are, in some sense, priests. Protestants, "you have consecrated yourselves." The people brought victims but the priests poured the blood round the altar, ver. 34. (Haydock)
II Chronicles 29:32 And the number of the holocausts which the multitude offered, was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs.
II Chronicles 29:33 And they consecrated to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.

Sheep, for peace-offerings. (Junius) (Calmet) --- They destined these victims for the use of the temple, (Tirinus) that none might be wanting afterwards. (Calmet)
II Chronicles 29:34 But the priests were few, and were not enough to slay the holocausts: wherefore the Levites, their brethren, helped them till the work was ended, and priests were sanctified, for the Levites are sanctified with an easier rite than the priests.

Holocausts, as the law required, Leviticus 1:6. See 2 Paralipomenon 35:11. The skin might be taken off other victims, by laics. --- Priests. Syriac, "The Levites were more timid, or reserved than the priests, to purify themselves." (Calmet) --- Both are indirectly accused of negligence, 2 Paralipomenon 30:15. The Hebrew seems to give the preference to the latter, "for the Levites were more upright of heart, (Septuagint, willing) to purify themselves than the priests." But the Alexandrian Septuagint may well agree with the Vulgate. The ceremonies attending the purification of both, may be seen [in] Exodus 29:1., and Numbers 8:6. (Haydock) --- The priests had not sufficient time to collect themselves with the purity required, on such a short warning; and the paucity induced the king to put off the Passover till the next month, 2 Paralipomenon 30:3, 15.
II Chronicles 29:35 So there were many holocausts, and the fat of peace-offerings, and the libations of holocausts: and the service of the house of the Lord was completed,
II Chronicles 29:36 And Ezechias, and all the people rejoiced because the ministry of the Lord was accomplished. For the resolution of doing this thing was taken suddenly.

Because. Hebrew and Septuagint, "that the Lord had disposed his people, for the thing was done suddenly," (Haydock) to place no obstacle to this sudden change from one extreme to the other, at a time when the king was scarcely established on the throne. (Calmet) --- Thus the people of England rejoiced, when the Catholic religion was re-established by the means of queen Mary and cardinal Pole. (Philips. 9.) --- But the minds of the people are very fickle. Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis. Still the joy may show, that all love for truth is "not extinct," as the Cardinal argued from the people's conduct. (Poli. ep.) (Haydock)