unto the inner part of the house] Render, within the house. The reference is not to the Holy of Holies specially, but to the whole interior of the house.
uncleanness] compare verse 5; Isaiah xxx. 22.
to the brook Kidron] The brook Kidron is the deep valley on the east of Jerusalem separating it from the Mount of Olives; 2 Samuel xv. 23; John xviii. 1. It was treated as an unclean spot, compare xv. 16.
¹⁷Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord; and they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days: and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
17. to sanctify ... and they sanctified] Two periods of eight days each were spent in “sanctifying,” the courts apparently requiring eight days and the house itself eight days.
¹⁸Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the table of shewbread, with all the vessels thereof.
18. the table of shewbread] Compare iv. 8 (note), 19; 1 Chronicles xxviii. 16—“the tables of shewbread.”
¹⁹Moreover 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 Lord.
19. cast away] According to xxviii. 24, “cut in pieces”; compare 2 Kings 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 Kings xvi. 17).