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The Passover Celebration

¹ King Hezekiah sent messages to all the people of Israel and Judah, and he wrote letters to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh. Hezekiah invited all these people to come to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the Lord, the God of Israel. ² King Hezekiah, his officers, and all the people in Jerusalem agreed to celebrate the Passover in the second month. ³ They could not celebrate it at the normal time, because not enough priests had made themselves ready to serve the Lord, and the people had not yet gathered in Jerusalem. ⁴ This plan satisfied King Hezekiah and all the people. ⁵ So they made an announcement everywhere in Israel, from Beersheba to Dan,^[a] telling the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the Lord, the God of Israel. For a long time most of the people had not celebrated the Passover as the law commanded. ⁶ At the king's command, the messengers took letters from him and his officers all through Israel and Judah. This is what the letters said:

¹⁰ The messengers went to every town in Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the way to Zebulun, but the people laughed at them and made fun of them. ¹¹ But some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun were sorry for what they had done and went to Jerusalem. ¹² And God united all the people of Judah in obeying King Hezekiah and his officers, because their command had come from the Lord.

¹³ In the second month a large crowd came together in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. ¹⁴ The people removed the altars and incense altars to gods in Jerusalem and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

¹⁵ They killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, so they made themselves holy and brought burnt offerings into the Temple of the Lord. ¹⁶ They took their regular places in the Temple as the Teachings of Moses, the man of God, commanded. The Levites gave the blood of the sacrifices to the priests, who sprinkled it on the altar. ¹⁷ Since many people in the crowd had not made themselves holy, the Levites killed the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean. The Levites made each lamb holy for the Lord. ^18-19 Although many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not purified themselves for the feast, they ate the Passover even though it was against the law. So Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "Lord, you are good. You are the Lord, the God of our ancestors. Please forgive all those who try to obey you even if they did not make themselves clean as the rules of the Temple command." ²⁰ The Lord listened to Hezekiah's prayer, and he healed the people. ²¹ The Israelites in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy to the Lord. The Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with loud music. ²² Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who showed they understood well how to do their service for the Lord. The people ate the feast for seven days, offered fellowship offerings, and praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

²³ Then all the people agreed to stay seven more days, so they celebrated with joy for seven more days. ²⁴ Hezekiah king of Judah gave one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep to the people. The officers gave one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep to the people. Many priests made themselves holy. ²⁵ All the people of Judah, the priests, the Levites, those who came from Israel, the foreigners from Israel, and the foreigners living in Judah were very happy. ²⁶ There was much joy in Jerusalem, because there had not been a celebration like this since the time of Solomon son of David and king of Israel. ²⁷ The priests and Levites stood up and blessed the people, and God heard them because their prayer reached heaven, his holy home.