2 Chronicles 30

30 ¹ Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the house of our Father in Jerusalem to keep the Passover to our Father, the God of Israel. ² For the king and his officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to keep the Passover in the second month, ³ since they could not keep it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not gathered to Jerusalem. ⁴ The plan seemed right to the king and to all the assembly, ⁵ so they sent a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover to our Father, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not kept it together in great numbers as it was written.

⁶ So the couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, and by the king's command they said: "Children of Israel, return to our Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the power of the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to our Father, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them over to desolation, as you yourselves see. ⁸ Now do not be stubborn as your fathers were, but give yourselves to our Father and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve your Father, so that his fierce anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For if you return to our Father, your brothers and your children will receive compassion from their captors and return to this land. For your Father is gracious and merciful, and he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.

¹⁰ The couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but the people laughed at them and mocked them. ¹¹ Even so, some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The hand of our Father was also on Judah to give them one heart to carry out what the king and the officials had commanded by the word of our Father.

¹³ A very great assembly of people gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. ¹⁴ They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took 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 house of our Father. ¹⁶ They took their accustomed posts as prescribed by the Law of Moses the man of God, and the priests sprinkled the blood handed to them by the Levites. ¹⁷ Since many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate them to our Father. ¹⁸ For a large number of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, though not as it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May our good Father pardon everyone ¹⁹ who sets his heart to seek our Father, the God of his fathers, even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary."

²⁰ And our Father listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. ²¹ So the children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy, and day by day the Levites and the priests praised our Father with loud instruments resounding to him. ²² Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of our Father. So for seven days they ate their share of the festival, offering peace offerings and giving thanks to our Father, the God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast for another seven days, and they kept it seven more days with joy. ²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah gave the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the officials gave the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep, and a great number of priests consecrated themselves. ²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came from Israel, and the foreigners who came from the land of Israel and those living 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 priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and their voices were heard, for their prayer reached his holy dwelling in heaven.