The Call to the Passover
1Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and he wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh as well, calling them to come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to hold a Passover for Yahweh, the God of Israel. 2The king, his officers and the whole assembly in Jerusalem had decided to hold the Passover in the second month, 3since they had not been able to hold it at the proper time: too few priests had consecrated themselves, and the people had not gathered in Jerusalem. 4The plan seemed right in the eyes of the king and of the whole assembly, 5so they settled on a decree to send the call throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come and hold a Passover for Yahweh, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem; for they had not held it in numbers, as it is written. 6The couriers went out with the letters from the hand of the king and his officers, throughout Israel and Judah, and this was the king’s command: “People of Israel, turn back to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and he will turn back to the remnant of you who have escaped the grip of the kings of Assyria. 7Do not be like your ancestors and your kin, who broke faith with Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them a desolation, as you can see. 8Do not stiffen your necks now as your ancestors did. Give your hand to Yahweh, come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated for ever, and serve Yahweh your God, and his burning anger will turn away from you. 9For if you turn back to Yahweh, your kin and your children will find compassion from their captors and will come back to this land. Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful, and he will not turn his face from you if you turn back to him.” 10The couriers crossed from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but the people laughed at them and mocked them. 11Even so, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12In Judah too the hand of God was at work, giving them one heart to carry out what the king and the officers had ordered by the word of Yahweh.
The Passover of the Second Month
13A great crowd gathered in Jerusalem to hold the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month — an enormous assembly. 14They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem; every incense altar they removed and threw into the Kidron ravine. 15They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth of the second month. The priests and the Levites were put to shame; they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of Yahweh. 16They took their appointed places, as prescribed for them in the law of Moses the man of God, the priests throwing the blood that they took from the hand of the Levites. 17Since there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had charge of slaughtering the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate them to Yahweh. 18For most of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover in a way other than what is written. But Hezekiah prayed for them: “May Yahweh, who is good, make atonement for everyone 19who has set his whole heart on seeking God — Yahweh, the God of his ancestors — even if he is not clean by the purity of the holy place.” 20Yahweh listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. 21The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem held the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh with the loud instruments of Yahweh. 22Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites who showed real skill in the service of Yahweh. For the seven days they ate the festal meal, sacrificing fellowship offerings and making confession to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.
Seven Days More
23Then the whole assembly agreed to hold another seven days, and they held seven more days of joy. 24For Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep to the assembly, and the officers had contributed a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and priests consecrated themselves in great numbers. 25The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that had come from Israel, and the foreigners who had come from the land of Israel and those living in Judah. 26There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like it in Jerusalem. 27Then the priests, the Levites, rose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard: their prayer reached his holy dwelling, reached heaven.
