²² And they kept the ^(A)Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and ^(B)turned the heart ^(C)of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

The Lord Considers the Heart

End of the Babylonian Captivity^(A)

1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord ^(B)by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, ^(C)so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

⁷ Therefore ^[a]purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed ^(A)Christ, our ^(B)Passover, was sacrificed ^[b]for us. ⁸ Therefore ^(C)let us keep the feast, ^(D)not with old leaven, nor ^(E)with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

^27 (A)Blessed^[a] be the Lord God of our fathers, ^(B)who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem,

²¹ So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept ^(A)the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing to the Lord, accompanied by loud instruments.

¹⁷ And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of ^(A)Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹¹ Jesus answered, ^(A)“You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ^(B)the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

Jesus Celebrates Passover with His Disciples^(A)

^17 (B)Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”