2 Chronicles 30
He Pardoned Everyone Who Set His Heart to Seek Him
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The Passover Proclaimed to All Israel
30:1Hezekiah sent throughout Israel and Judah and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasse, inviting them to come to the Lord’s house in Jerusalem to keep the phasek for the Lord, the God of Israel.
30:2The king, the rulers, and the whole assembly in Jerusalem took counsel to keep the phasek in the second month.
30:3They could not keep it at that time, because enough priests had not purified themselves and the people had not gathered in Jerusalem.
30:4The proposal pleased the king and the assembly.
30:5They established a decree for a proclamation to pass throughout Israel, from Beersabee to Dan, inviting people to come and keep the phasek for the Lord, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem, because a multitude had not observed it according to the writing.
30:6The runners went with letters from the king and the rulers throughout Israel and Judah, according to the king’s ordinance: “Sons of Israel, return to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He will bring back the survivors left from the hand of Assour’s king.
30:7Do not become like your fathers and your brothers who departed from the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He delivered them to devastation, as you see.
30:8Now do not harden your necks. Give glory to the Lord God and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever. Serve the Lord your God, and He will turn furious wrath away from you.
30:9For when you return to the Lord, your brothers and children will find compassion before all who took them captive, and He will bring them back to this land. The Lord our God is merciful and compassionate; He will not turn His face from us if we return to Him.”
The Runners Mocked and Received
30:10The runners passed from city to city in the hill country of Ephraim and Manasse, as far as Zaboulon, but people treated them with laughter and mockery.
30:11Nevertheless, men from Aser, Manasse, and Zaboulon felt shame and came to Jerusalem.
30:12In Judah the Lord’s hand gave them one heart to come and carry out the king’s and the rulers’ ordinance according to the Lord’s word.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread Kept
30:13A great people gathered in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly.
30:14They rose and demolished the altars in Jerusalem. They pulled down everything on which they had burned incense to false gods and threw it into the Kedron torrent.
30:15They sacrificed the phasek on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites felt shame, purified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the Lord’s house.
30:16They stood at their stations according to their rule, according to the command of Moses the man of God. The priests received the blood from the Levites’ hands.
30:17Because a multitude in the assembly had not been purified, the Levites were responsible for sacrificing the phasek for everyone unable to purify himself for the Lord.
Hezekiah Prays for the Unpurified
30:18Most of the people from Ephraim, Manasse, Issachar, and Zaboulon had not purified themselves, yet ate the phasek contrary to the writing. Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord be propitious toward
30:19every heart directed to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, though not according to the purity of the holy places.”
30:20The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
Seven Days More of Rejoicing
30:21The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, hymning the Lord day after day, with the priests and Levites playing instruments for the Lord.
30:22Hezekiah spoke to every heart of the Levites and of those who showed good understanding toward the Lord. They completed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, sacrificing salvation offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
30:23The assembly together agreed to keep another seven days, and they kept seven days with rejoicing.
30:24Hezekiah contributed to Judah, to the assembly, one thousand calves and seven thousand sheep. The rulers contributed to the people one thousand calves and ten thousand sheep, and the priests’ holy things were abundant.
30:25The whole assembly rejoiced, with the priests, Levites, the whole assembly of Judah, those present from Israel, the resident foreigners who came from Israel’s land, and those living in Judah.
30:26There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel, there had been no such festival in Jerusalem.
30:27The Levitical priests rose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.