The Great Passover

30 Hezekiah sent word 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 the God of Israel. ² For the king and his officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month^{(A) 3} (for they could not keep it at its proper time because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem).^{(B) 4} The plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. ⁵ So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it in great numbers as prescribed.^{(C) 6} So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.^{(D) 7} Do not be like your ancestors and your kindred, who were faithless to the Lord God of their ancestors, so that he made them a desolation, as you see.^{(E) 8} Do not now be stiff-necked as your ancestors were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger may turn away from you.^{(F) 9} For as you return to the Lord, your kindred and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”^(G)

¹⁰ So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.^{(H) 11} Only a few from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.^{(I) 12} The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the officials commanded by the word of the Lord.

¹³ Many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very large assembly.^{(J) 14} They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for offering incense they took away and threw into the Wadi Kidron.^{(K) 15} They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and they sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.^{(L) 16} They took their accustomed posts according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests dashed the blood that they received^[a] from the hands of the Levites.^{(M) 17} For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to make it holy to the Lord.^{(N) 18} For a multitude of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was prescribed. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon all^{(O) 19} who set their hearts to seek God, the Lord the God of their ancestors, even though not in accordance with the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.”^{(P) 20} The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. ²¹ The people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, accompanied by loud instruments for the Lord.^{(Q) 22} Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the Lord. So the people ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing offerings of well-being and giving thanks to the Lord the God of their ancestors.^(R)

²³ Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the festival for another seven days, so they kept it for another seven days with gladness.^{(S) 24} For King Hezekiah of Judah gave the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for offerings, and the officials gave the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. The priests sanctified themselves in great numbers.^{(T) 25} The whole assembly of Judah, the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the resident aliens who came out of the land of Israel, and the resident aliens who lived in Judah rejoiced. ²⁶ There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon son of King David of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. ²⁷ Then the priests and the Levites stood up and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; their prayer came to his holy dwelling in heaven.^(U)

Pagan Shrines Destroyed

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke down the pillars, cut down the sacred poles,^[b] and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, all to their individual properties.^(V)

² Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, everyone according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise.^{(W) 3} The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord.^{(X) 4} He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord.^{(Y) 5} As soon as the word spread, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.^{(Z) 6} The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been consecrated to the Lord their God and laid them in heaps.^{(AA) 7} In the third month they began to pile up the heaps and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. ⁹ Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰ The chief priest Azariah, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty to spare, for the Lord has blessed his people, so that we have this great supply left over.”^(AB)

Reorganization of Priests and Levites

¹¹ Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare store chambers in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. ¹² Faithfully they brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the dedicated things. The chief officer in charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, with his brother Shimei as second; ¹³ while Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by the appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief officer of the house of God.^{(AC) 14} Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the Lord and the most holy offerings. ¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in the cities of the priests, to distribute the portions to their kindred, old and young alike, by divisions,^{(AD) 16} except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and up, all who entered the house of the Lord as the duty of each day required, for their service according to their offices, by their divisions.^{(AE) 17} The enrollment of the priests was according to their ancestral houses; that of the Levites from twenty years old and up was according to their offices, by their divisions.^{(AF) 18} They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole multitude, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. ¹⁹ And for the descendants of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of pastureland belonging to their towns, town by town, the people designated by name were to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled.^(AG)

²⁰ Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah; he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.^{(AH) 21} And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, to seek his God, he did with all his heart, and he prospered.

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

18 After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. ² Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place because Jesus often met there with his disciples.^{(A) 3} So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.^{(B) 4} Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?”^{(C) 5} They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.”^[a] Jesus replied, “I am he.”^[b] Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. ⁶ When Jesus^[c] said to them, “I am he,”^[d] they stepped back and fell to the ground. ⁷ Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”^{[e](D) 8} Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he.^[f] So if you are looking for me, let these people go.” ⁹ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.”^{(E) 10} Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”^(F)

Jesus before the High Priest

¹² So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³ First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.^{(G) 14} Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.^(H)

Peter Denies Jesus

¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest,^{(I) 16} but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. ¹⁷ The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”^{(J) 18} Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.^(K)