30 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 unto the Lord God of Israel.

² For the king had taken counsel with his princes and all the congregation in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month.

³ For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together at Jerusalem.

⁴ And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.

⁵ So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem; for they had not done it for a long time in such manner as it was written.

⁶ So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, “Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He will return to the remnant of you that have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.

⁷ And be not ye like your fathers and like your brethren who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, so that He therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.

⁸ Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord and enter into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever; and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you.

⁹ For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion 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 away His face from you if ye return unto Him.”

¹⁰ So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.

¹¹ Nevertheless some from Asher and Manasseh and from Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

¹² Also the hand of God was in Judah, to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of the Lord.

¹³ And there assembled at Jerusalem many people to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great congregation.

¹⁴ And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the Brook Kidron.

¹⁵ Then they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.

¹⁶ And they stood in their place according to their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites.

¹⁷ For there were many in the congregation who were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passover lambs for every one who was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord.

¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The good Lord pardon every one

¹⁹ who prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”

²⁰ And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

²¹ And the children of Israel who were present 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, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord.

²² And Hezekiah spoke comfortingly unto all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord; and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ And the whole assembly took counsel 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 bullocks and seven thousand sheep, and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks 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 who came out of the land of Israel and who dwelt in Judah rejoiced.

²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem.

²⁷ Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the Asherah poles, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.