Hezekiah Proclaims a Passover

1Also, Hezekiah sent to all of Israel and Judah. And he wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, so that they would come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and so that they would keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. 2Therefore, having taken counsel, the king and the rulers, and the entire assembly of Jerusalem, resolved that they would keep the Passover, in the second month. 3For they had not been able to keep it at its proper time. For the priests, who were unable to suffice, had not been sanctified. And the people had not yet been gathered together in Jerusalem. 4And the word was pleasing to the king, and to the entire multitude. 5And they resolved that they would send messengers to all of Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, so that they might come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem. For many had not kept it, just as it was prescribed by the law. 6And carriers traveled with the letters, by order of the king and his rulers, to all of Israel and Judah, proclaiming, in accord with what the king had ordered: “O sons of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel. And he will return to the remnant who escaped from the hand of the king of the Assyrians. 7Do not choose to be like your fathers and brothers, who withdrew from the Lord, the God of their fathers. And so he delivered them over to destruction, as you yourselves discern. 8Do not choose to harden your necks, as your fathers did. Surrender to the hands of the Lord. And go to his Sanctuary, which he has sanctified unto eternity. Serve the Lord, the God of your fathers, and the fury of his wrath will be turned away from you. 9For if you will return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will find mercy before their masters, who led them away as captives, and they will be returned to this land. For the Lord your God is compassionate and lenient, and he will not avert his face from you, if you will return to him.”

10And so, the carriers were traveling quickly from city to city, throughout the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, though they were ridiculing and mocking them. 11Even so, certain men from Asher, and from Manasseh, and from Zebulun, acquiescing to this counsel, went to Jerusalem. 12Truly, the hand of God was working in Judah, to give them one heart, so that they would accomplish the word of the Lord, according to the precept of the king and of the rulers.

Hezekiah Celebrates the Passover

13And many people gathered together in Jerusalem, so that they could keep the solemnity of unleavened bread, in the second month. 14And rising up, they destroyed the altars which were in Jerusalem, and all the things in which incense was burned to idols. Overturning these things, they cast them into the torrent Kidron. 15Then they immolated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. Also, the priests and Levites, at length having been sanctified, offered the holocausts in the house of the Lord. 16And they stood in their order, according to the disposition and law of Moses, the man of God. Yet truly, the priests took up the blood, which was to be poured out, from the hands of the Levites, 17because a great number were not sanctified. And therefore, the Levites immolated the Passover for those who had not been sanctified to the Lord in time. 18And now a great portion of the people from Ephraim, and Manasseh, and Issachar, and Zebulun, who had not been sanctified, ate the Passover, which is not in accord with what was written. And Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “The good Lord will be forgiving 19to all who, with their whole heart, seek the Lord, the God of their fathers. And he will not impute it to them, though they have not been sanctified.” 20And the Lord heeded him, and was reconciled to the people. 21And the sons of Israel who were found at Jerusalem kept the solemnity of unleavened bread for seven days with great rejoicing, praising the Lord throughout each day, with the Levites and the priests, accompanied by the musical instruments corresponding to their office. 22And Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites, who had a good understanding concerning the Lord. And they ate during the seven days of the solemnity, immolating victims of peace offerings, and praising the Lord, the God of their fathers.

23And it pleased the entire multitude that they should celebrate, even for another seven days. And they did this with enormous gladness. 24For Hezekiah, the king of Judah, had offered to the multitude one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep. Truly, the rulers had given the people one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. Then a great mulititude of priests was sanctified. 25And the whole multitude of Judah, as much the priests and Levites as the entire crowd that had arrived from Israel, and also the converts from the land of Israel, and those with a habitation in Judah, was overflowing with cheerfulness. 26And there was a great celebration in Jerusalem, to such an extent as had not been in that city since the days of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel. 27Then the priests and Levites rose up and blessed the people. And their voice was heeded. And their prayer reached the holy habitation of heaven.