4He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east,
5and said to them, Hear me, you Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs.
7Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
8Therefore the wrath of Yahweh was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes.
9For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.