2 Chronicles 30

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

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

3for they had not been able to celebrate it at the proper time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not gathered in Jerusalem.

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

5So they decided to send a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel, for they had not celebrated it in great numbers as it was written.

6So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, as the king had commanded, saying, “People of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may return to those of you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

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

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

9For if you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and will come back to this land. For Yahweh your God is gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”

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

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

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

13A great crowd gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very large assembly.

14They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

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

16They took their regular places as prescribed in the law of Moses the man of God. The priests splashed the blood that they received from the hands of the Levites.

17Since there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves, the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate them to Yahweh.

18For a large number of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May Yahweh, who is good, make atonement for

19everyone who sets his heart on seeking God, Yahweh the God of his ancestors, even if he is not clean by the standard of the sanctuary.”

20Yahweh heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

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

22Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of Yahweh. So they ate the food of the festival for the seven days, offering fellowship offerings and giving thanks to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

23Then the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, so they celebrated seven more days with joy.

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

25The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and the Levites, the whole assembly that came from Israel, and the resident foreigners who came from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah.

26There 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.

27Then the Levitical priests stood up and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer reached his holy dwelling place in heaven.