⁶ Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves^(A) and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”

⁵ and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate^(A) yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.

¹⁵ When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify^(A) the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord.

¹³ The blood of goats and bulls^(A) and the ashes of a heifer^(B) sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^(C) offered himself^(D) unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences^(E) from acts that lead to death,^[a](F) so that we may serve the living God!^(G)

⁵ When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified.^(A) Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering^(B) for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned^(C) and cursed God^(D) in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

²⁰ The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered^(A) the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. ²¹ So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves^(B) from the unclean practices^(C) of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord,^(D) the God of Israel.

¹⁵ They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated^(A) themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord. ¹⁶ Then they took up their regular positions^(B) as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them by the Levites. ¹⁷ Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill^(C) the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs^[a] to the Lord. ¹⁸ Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves,^(D) yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone ¹⁹ who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.”