Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.

2 CHRONICLES 29:18KJV
Know the Bible

2 Chronicles 29:18 (KJV)

What does 2 Chronicles 29:18 mean?

2 Chronicles 29:18 records a report to King Hezekiah that the temple and its equipment have been cleansed. The report marks a step in preparing the temple for worship after a period when its doors had been shut and its lamps put out.

The speakers are the Levites, members of a group assigned duties at the temple. They had carried out the work ordered by the king. The altar was where animals were burned as offerings, while the table held bread placed before the LORD.

The Hebrew behind 2 Chronicles 29:18

  • “cleansed” — טָהֵר (taher): This word can mean to make clean or fit for a sacred use. Here, it describes preparing the temple and its contents for worship, not merely reporting that they looked clean.
  • “shewbread” — מַעֲרֶכֶת (maʿarekhet): This word can refer to an arrangement or a set of things in order. In this verse, it points to the bread arranged on the table in the temple.

Why 2 Chronicles 29:18 matters

  • The report emphasizes that the work included the equipment as well as the building. The verse twice mentions “all the vessels,” meaning the objects used at the altar and the table.
  • The cleansing was part of a larger effort to restore temple worship. In the surrounding passage, Hezekiah speaks of the neglect under earlier rulers, and the people later bring offerings to the cleansed temple.

Where else these words appear

“shewbread” Hebrew H4635 · used in 9 verses

  • Leviticus 24:6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.
  • 1 Chronicles 9:32 And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the shewbread, to prepare it every sabbath.
  • 2 Chronicles 2:4 Behold, I build an house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.

“in” Hebrew H6441 · used in 13 verses

  • Leviticus 10:18 Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded.
  • 1 Kings 6:29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
  • 2 Chronicles 29:16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.

“table” Hebrew H7979 · used in 62 verses

  • Exodus 25:23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
  • 1 Samuel 20:29 And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.
  • Job 36:16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.

“Hezekiah” Hebrew H2396 · used in 78 verses

  • 2 Kings 16:20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
  • 2 Kings 20:3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
  • Isaiah 36:16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;