302 Chronicles 30

Preparations for Passover

3The people had not been able to celebrate the Passover Festival at the proper time in the first month, because not enough priests were ritually clean and not many people had assembled in Jerusalem. So King Hezekiah, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem agreed to celebrate it in the second month, and the king sent word to all the people of Israel and Judah. He took special care to send letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord, the God of Israel.Select 2 Chronicles 30:3

4The king and the people were pleased with their plan,Select 2 Chronicles 30:4

5so they invited all the Israelites, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, to come together in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover according to the Law, in larger numbers than ever before.Select 2 Chronicles 30:5

6Messengers went out at the command of the king and his officials through all Judah and Israel with the following invitation: “People of Israel, you have survived the Assyrian conquest of the land. Now return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to you.Select 2 Chronicles 30:6

7Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the Lord their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.Select 2 Chronicles 30:7

8Do not be stubborn as they were, but obey the Lord. Come to the Temple in Jerusalem, which the Lord your God has made holy forever, and worship him so that he will no longer be angry with you.Select 2 Chronicles 30:8

9If you return to the Lord, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The Lord your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you.”Select 2 Chronicles 30:9

10The messengers went to every city in the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, but people laughed at them and made fun of them.Select 2 Chronicles 30:10

11Still, there were some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who were willing to come to Jerusalem.Select 2 Chronicles 30:11

12God was also at work in Judah and united the people in their determination to obey his will by following the commands of the king and his officials.Select 2 Chronicles 30:12

Passover Is Celebrated

13A great number of people gathered in Jerusalem in the second month to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread.Select 2 Chronicles 30:13

14They took all the altars that had been used in Jerusalem for offering sacrifices and burning incense and threw them into Kidron Valley.Select 2 Chronicles 30:14

15And on the fourteenth day of the month they killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. The priests and Levites who were not ritually clean became so ashamed that they dedicated themselves to the Lord, and now they could sacrifice burnt offerings in the Temple.Select 2 Chronicles 30:15

16They took their places in the Temple according to the instructions in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood of the sacrifices to the priests, who sprinkled it on the altar.Select 2 Chronicles 30:16

17Because many of the people were not ritually clean, they could not kill the Passover lambs, so the Levites did it for them and dedicated the lambs to the Lord.Select 2 Chronicles 30:17

18In addition, many of those who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not performed the ritual of purification, and so they were observing Passover improperly. King Hezekiah offered this prayer for them:Select 2 Chronicles 30:18

19“O Lord, the God of our ancestors, in your goodness forgive those who are worshiping you with all their heart, even though they are not ritually clean.”Select 2 Chronicles 30:19

20The Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer; he forgave the people and did not harm them.Select 2 Chronicles 30:20

21For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the Lord with all their strength.Select 2 Chronicles 30:21

22Hezekiah praised the Levites for their skill in conducting the worship of the Lord. After the seven days during which they offered sacrifices in praise of the Lord, the God of their ancestors,Select 2 Chronicles 30:22

A Second Celebration

23they all decided to celebrate for another seven days. So they celebrated with joy.Select 2 Chronicles 30:23

24King Hezekiah contributed 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for the people to kill and eat, and the officials gave them another 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. A large number of priests went through the ritual of purification.Select 2 Chronicles 30:24

25So everyone was happy—the people of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the people who had come from the north, and the foreigners who had settled permanently in Israel and Judah.Select 2 Chronicles 30:25

26The city of Jerusalem was filled with joy, because nothing like this had happened since the days of King Solomon, the son of David.Select 2 Chronicles 30:26

27The priests and the Levites asked the Lord's blessing on the people. In his home in heaven God heard their prayers and accepted them.Select 2 Chronicles 30:27