He said,“ Levites, listen to me! Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Set apart the temple of the Lord. He’s the God of your people who lived long ago. Remove anything‘ unclean’ from the temple.

对他们说：“利未人哪，当听我说：现在你们要洁净自己，又洁净耶和华你们列祖神的殿，从圣所中除去污秽之物。

对他们说：“利未人哪，当听我说：现在你们要将自己分别为圣，又将耶和华—你们列祖上帝的殿分别为圣，从圣所中除去污秽之物。

对他们说：“利未人哪，当听我说：现在你们要将自己分别为圣，又将耶和华—你们列祖神的殿分别为圣，从圣所中除去污秽之物。

对他们说：“利未人啊，请听我说！现在你们要洁净自己，也要洁净你们祖先的上帝耶和华的殿，除去圣所中的污秽之物。

对他们说：“利未人哪，你们要听我的话；现在你们要自洁，又要洁净耶和华你们列祖的神的殿，把污秽之物从圣所中除去。

對他們說：「利未人哪，當聽我說：現在你們要潔淨自己，又潔淨耶和華－你們列祖神的殿，從聖所中除去污穢之物。

對他們說：「利未人哪，當聽我說：現在你們要將自己分別為聖，又將耶和華－你們列祖上帝的殿分別為聖，從聖所中除去污穢之物。

對他們說：「利未人哪，當聽我說：現在你們要將自己分別為聖，又將耶和華－你們列祖神的殿分別為聖，從聖所中除去污穢之物。

對他們說：「利未人啊，請聽我說！現在你們要潔淨自己，也要潔淨你們祖先的上帝耶和華的殿，除去聖所中的污穢之物。

對他們說：“利未人哪，你們要聽我的話；現在你們要自潔，又要潔淨耶和華你們列祖的神的殿，把污穢之物從聖所中除去。

對他們說：『利未人哪，你們要聽我說；現在你們要潔淨自己為聖，也使永恆主你們列祖之上帝的殿潔淨為聖，從聖所中把污穢之物拿出來。

謂之曰、利未人歟、其聽我言、今當自潔、且潔爾列祖之上帝耶和華室、由聖所出其污穢、

告之曰、利未人宜聽我言、爾當潔己、列祖上帝耶和華之殿、亦宜潔、去聖所之污衊、

謂之曰、利未人、宜聽我言、今爾當潔身、以潔主爾列祖之天主之殿、由聖所除其污穢、

and said:“ Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.

and said to them,“ Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.

He said to them,“ Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary.

He said to them,“ Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place.

Then he said to them,“ Listen to me, you Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place.

and said to them:“ Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place.

and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.

He said to them,“ Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place.

And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy[ place].

He said to them:“ Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the LORD God of your ancestors! Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!

and said to them,“ Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify Yahweh, the God of your fathers’ house, and carry the filthiness out of the holy place.

Kill the Passover lambs. Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Prepare the lambs for your people. Do what the Lord commanded through Moses.”

He said to them,“ You are the leaders of the families of Levi. You and the other Levites must set yourselves apart to serve the Lord and his people. You must carry up the ark of the Lord. He is the God of Israel. Put the ark in the place I’ve prepared for it.

All these Levites gathered the other Levites together. They set themselves apart to the Lord. Then they went in to purify the Lord’ s temple. That’s what the king had ordered them to do. They did what the Lord told them to.The priests went into the Lord’ s temple to make it pure. They brought out to the temple courtyard everything that was“ unclean.” They had found“ unclean” things in the Lord’ s temple. The Levites took them and carried them out to the Kidron Valley.

But there weren’t enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them. They worked until the task was finished. By that time other priests had been set apart to the Lord. The Levites had been more careful than the priests when they set themselves apart.

Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So let us make ourselves pure from everything that makes our bodies and spirits impure. Let us be completely holy. We want to honor God.

Jesus entered the temple courtyard. He began to drive out all those who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of the people who were exchanging money. He also turned over the benches of those who were selling doves.He said to them,“ It is written that the Lord said,‘ My house will be called a house where people can pray.’( Isaiah 56:7) But you are making it‘ a den for robbers.’ ”( Jeremiah 7:11)

How can the temple of the true God and the statues of other gods agree? We are the temple of the living God. God has said,“ I will live with them. I will walk among them. I will be their God. And they will be my people.”( Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27)

He continued,“ Go through it. Look at the evil things they are doing here. I hate those things.”So I went in and looked. All over the walls were pictures of all kinds of crawling things and“ unclean” animals. The Lord hates it when people worship those things. There were also carvings of the gods of the people of Israel.In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah was standing there among them. He is the son of Shaphan. Each elder was holding a shallow cup. A sweet- smelling cloud of incense was rising from the cups.The Lord spoke to me. He said,“ Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Each of them is in his own room worshiping his own god. They say,‘ The Lord doesn’t see us. He has deserted the land.’ ”He continued,“ You will see them doing things I hate even more.”Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’ s house. I saw women sitting there. They were mourning for the god named Tammuz.The Lord said to me,“ Son of man, do you see what they are doing? You will see things I hate even more.”Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’ s house. About 25 men were there. They were at the entrance to the Lord’ s temple between the porch and the altar. Their backs were turned toward the temple. Their faces were turned toward the east. And they were bowing down to the sun.He said to me,“ Son of man, have you seen all of this? The people of Judah are doing things here that I hate. This is a very serious matter. They are harming one another all through the land. They continue to make me very angry. Just look at them making fun of me!So I am angry with them. I will punish them. I will not spare them or feel sorry for them. They might even shout in my ears. But I will not listen to them.”

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple? Don’t you know that God’s Spirit lives among you?If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. God’s temple is holy. And you all together are that temple.

The Lord said to Moses,“ Go to the people. Today and tomorrow set them apart for me. Have them wash their clothes.

He did it to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her with water and the word.He did it to bring her to himself as a brightly shining church. He wants a church that has no stain or wrinkle or any other flaw. He wants a church that is holy and without blame.

Then he spoke to the people. He said,“ Get ready for the third day. Don’t have sex.”

He reached out what appeared to be a hand. He took hold of me by the hair of my head. The Spirit of the Lord lifted me up between earth and heaven. In visions God gave me, the Spirit took me to Jerusalem. He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the inner courtyard. The statue of a god was standing there. It made God very angry.

While he was still young, he began to worship the God of King David. It was the eighth year of Josiah’s rule. In his 12th year Josiah began to get rid of the high places in Judah and Jerusalem. He removed the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. He also removed the statues of other false gods.He ordered the altars of the gods that were named Baal to be torn down. Josiah cut to pieces the altars above them that were used for burning incense. He smashed the Asherah poles. He also smashed the statues of other false gods. Josiah broke all of them to pieces. He scattered the pieces over the graves of those who had offered sacrifices to those gods.He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. That’s the way he made Judah and Jerusalem pure and“ clean.”Josiah went to the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon. He went all the way to Naphtali. He also went to the destroyed places around all those towns.Everywhere Josiah went he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles. He crushed the statues of gods to powder. He cut to pieces all the altars for burning incense. He destroyed all those things everywhere in Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.In the 18th year of Josiah’s rule, he decided to make the land and temple pure and“ clean.” So he sent Shaphan, Maaseiah and Joah to repair the temple of the Lord his God. Shaphan was the son of Azaliah. Maaseiah was ruler of the city. And Joah, the son of Joahaz, kept the records.

I will sprinkle pure water on you. Then you will be‘ clean.’ I will make you completely pure and‘ clean.’ I will take all the statues of your gods away from you.