1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel.
2 And the king and his leaders, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, took counsel to keep the Passover in the second month.
3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not made themselves pure enough, nor had the people gathered to Jerusalem.
4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
5 And they established a decree to send a notice throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem. For not many [of them] had done as it was written.
6 And the runners went with the letters from the king and his rulers to Israel and Judah, and according to the command of the king, saying, O sons of Israel, turn again to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped out of the hands of the king of Assyria.
7 And do not be like your fathers and like your brothers who sinned against the LORD God of their fathers, and He made them for a horror, as you see.
8 And do not be stiffnecked like your fathers. Yield yourselves to the LORD and enter into His temple which He has sanctified forever. And serve the LORD your God, so that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you.
9 For if you turn again to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will have mercies before those who lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land. For the LORD your God [is] gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.
10 And the runners passed from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun. But they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
11 However, men from Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the command of the king and of the rulers, by the word of the LORD.
13 And many people gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened [Bread] in the second month, a very great congregation.
14 And they arose and took away the altars in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense they took away, and threw [them] into the torrent Kidron.
15 And they killed the Passover on the fourteenth of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed and made themselves pure, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.
16 And they stood in their place in their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood from the hand of the Levites.
17 For many in the congregation [were] not sanctified. And the Levites were over the killing of the passovers for every one [who was] not clean, to sanctify them to the LORD.
18 For many of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not been cleansed, but ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May the good LORD pardon everyone
19 [who] prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary.
20 And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
21 And the sons of Israel found at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened [Bread] seven days with great gladness. And the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day with loud instruments to the LORD.
22 And Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD. And they ate the appointed things seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.
23 And the whole gathering agreed to keep another seven days. And they kept [another] seven days with gladness.
24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep. And the rulers gave to the congregation a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25 And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and who lived in Judah, rejoiced.
26 And there was great joy in Jerusalem. For from the days of Solomon the son of David the king of Israel [there was] nothing like this in Jerusalem.
27 And the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people. And their voice was heard, and their prayer came to His holy dwelling-place, to Heaven.