1   Then Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to keep the Passover of the Lord the God of Israel. 2   The king and his officers and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month, 3   but they had not been able to keep it at that time, because not enough priests had hallowed themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem. 4   The proposal was acceptable to the king and the whole assembly. 5   So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover of the Lord the God of Israel. Never before had so many kept it according to the prescribed form. 6   Couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officers, proclaiming the royal command: ‘Turn back, men of Israel, to the Lord the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may turn back to those of you who escaped capture by the kings of Assyria. 7   Do not be like your forefathers and your kinsmen, who were unfaithful to the Lord the God of their fathers, so that he made them an object of horror, as you yourselves saw. 8   Do not be stubborn as your forefathers were; submit yourselves to the Lord and enter his sanctuary which he has sanctified for ever, and worship the Lord your God, so that his anger may be averted from you. 9   For when you turn back to the Lord, your kinsmen and your children will win compassion from their captors and return to this land. The Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn away from you if you turn back to him.’

10   So the couriers passed from city to city through the land of

The kings from Hezekiah to the exile Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulun, but they were treated with scorn and ridicule. 11   However, a few men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun submitted and came to Jerusalem. 12   Further, the hand of God moved the people in Judah with one accord to carry out what the king and his officers had ordered at the Lord's command.

13   Many people, a very great assembly, came together in Jerusalem to keep the pilgrim-feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. 14   They began by removing the altars in Jerusalem; they removed the altars for burning sacrifices and threw them into the gorge of the Kidron. 15   They killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were bitterly ashamed. They hallowed themselves and brought whole-offerings to the house of the Lord. 16   They took their accustomed places, according to the direction laid down for them in the law of Moses the man of God; the priests flung against the altar the blood which they received from the Levites. 17   But many in the assembly had not hallowed themselves; therefore the Levites had to kill the passover lamb for every one who was unclean, in order to hallow him to the Lord. 18   For a majority of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not kept themselves ritually clean, and therefore kept the Passover irregularly. But Hezekiah prayed for them, 19   saying, ‘May the good Lord grant pardon to every one who makes a practice of seeking guidance of God, the Lord the God of his fathers, even if he has not observed the rules for the purification of the sanctuary.’ 20    21   The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. And the Israelites who were present in Jerusalem kept the feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord every day with unrestrained fervour. ^note 22   Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had shown true understanding in the service of the Lord. So they spent the seven days of the festival sacrificing shared-offerings and making confession to ^note the Lord the God of their fathers.

23   Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast for another seven days; so they kept it for another seven days with general rejoicing. 24   For Hezekiah king of Judah set aside for the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and his officers set aside for the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and priests hallowed themselves in great numbers. 25   So the whole assembly of Judah, including the priests and the Levites, rejoiced, together with all the assembly which came out of Israel, and the resident aliens from Israel and those who lived in Judah. 26   There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, the like of which had not been known there since the days of Solomon son of David king

The kings from Hezekiah to the exile of Israel. 27   Then the priests and ^note the Levites stood to bless the people; the Lord listened to their cry, ^note and their prayer came to God's holy dwelling-place in heaven.

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