2 Chronicles 30

¹And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord

²For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month.

³For they could not keep it at the regular time, because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem.

⁴And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly.

⁵So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord

⁶Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, return to the Lord

⁷And do not be like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord

⁸Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord

⁹For if you return to the Lord

¹⁰So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but they laughed at them and mocked them.

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

¹²Also the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, at the word of the Lord

¹³Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month.

¹⁴They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron.

¹⁵Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the Lord

¹⁶They stood in their place according to their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites.

¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the Lord

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

¹⁹who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord

²⁰And the Lord

²¹So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord

²²And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord

²³Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast another seven days, and they kept it another seven days with gladness.

²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.

²⁵The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and Levites, all the assembly that came from Israel, the sojourners who came from the land of Israel, and those who dwelt in Judah.

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

²⁷Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.