2 Chronicles 30

¹ Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.

² The king, his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem agreed to celebrate the Passover in the second month.

³ They had not been able to celebrate it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not yet gathered in Jerusalem.

⁴ The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly.

⁵ So they decided to send a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, for it had not been celebrated in great numbers as prescribed.

⁶ Couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, proclaiming the king's command: 'People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, so that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.'

⁷ 'Do not be like your ancestors and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you can see.'

⁸ 'Now do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were. Submit to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.'

⁹ 'If you return to the LORD, your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.'

¹⁰ The couriers went from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but the people laughed at them and mocked them.

¹¹ Yet some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

¹² In Judah also the hand of God was at work, giving them one heart to carry out what the king and the officials had commanded by the word of the LORD.

¹³ A great crowd gathered in Jerusalem in the second month to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread — a vast assembly.

¹⁴ They set to work and removed the altars in Jerusalem; they cleared away all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

¹⁵ They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the LORD.

¹⁶ They took their regular positions, as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God, and the priests splashed the blood handed to them by the Levites.

¹⁷ Since many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered the Passover lambs for all who were not ceremonially clean, to consecrate the lambs to the LORD.

¹⁸ In fact most of the people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, 'May the LORD, who is good, provide atonement for everyone'

¹⁹ 'who sets his heart on seeking God — the LORD, the God of his ancestors — even though he is not clean according to the sanctuary's rules of purity.'

²⁰ And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, while the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day after day with resounding instruments dedicated to the LORD.

²² Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding in the service of the LORD. So for the seven appointed days they ate their portions, sacrificing fellowship offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

²³ Then the whole assembly agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days, so they kept it joyfully for another seven days.

²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah provided a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats for the assembly, and the officials provided a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep and goats. And a great number of priests consecrated themselves.

²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, together with the priests and the Levites and all who had gathered from Israel, including the foreigners who had come from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah.

²⁶ There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

²⁷ Then the levitical priests stood and blessed the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.