Hezekiah Proclaims a Passover
1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 The king had taken counsel with his officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month, 3 for they could not keep it at the regular time because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered together to Jerusalem.
4 This plan was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly. 5 So they established a decree to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not observed it in the way it is written for a long time.
6 So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his officials throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying,
“You Israelites, turn back to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against the Lord, the God of their fathers so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see.
8 Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For if you turn back to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion before those who led them captive and will come back into this land, because the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn his face away from you, if you return to him.”
10 So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, to Zebulun, but people ridiculed them and mocked them. 11 Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also the hand of the Lord came on Judah to give them one heart, to obey the command of the king and the officials according to the word of the Lord.
Hezekiah Celebrates the Passover
13 Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. 14 They arose and took down the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took down all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook Kidron. 15 Then on the fourteenth day of the second month, they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.
16 They stood at their ordered posts, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves. Therefore the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the Lord.
18 For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover apart from the way it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone 19 who sets his heart to seek the Lord God, the God of his fathers, even if they are not clean according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
20 The Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. 21 The Israelites who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great gladness. The Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments to the Lord. 22 Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of the Lord. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and making confession to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
23 The whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days, and they kept another seven days with gladness. 24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to the assembly for offerings, and the officials gave 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep to the assembly, and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25 All the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly who came out of Israel, and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel, and who lived in Judah, rejoiced. 26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.
27 Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place in heaven.