Old/New Testament

Hezekiah and all Israel Celebrate Pesach

30 Hezekiah then sent word to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the House of Adonai at Jerusalem to keep the Passover for Adonai, the God of Israel. ² The king and his officials and the entire congregation in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate Passover in the second month. ³ For they were not able to celebrate it at the regular time, since not enough kohanim had consecrated themselves, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem. ⁴ The matter seemed right in the eyes of the king and of the entire community. ⁵ So they decided to issue a decree and to proclaim it throughout all Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for Adonai, the God of Israel. For it had not been celebrated as prescribed for a long time.

⁶ At the king’s command, the couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials saying:

“You men of Israel, turn back to Adonai, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and He will return to the remnant of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Do not be like your fathers and brothers who acted unfaithfully against Adonai, the God of their fathers, so that He made them a horror as you see. ⁸ Do not stiffen your neck as your fathers did, but reconcile to Adonai, and come to His Temple, which He has consecrated forever, and worship Adonai your God that His burning anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For if you return to Adonai, your brothers and children will receive compassion before their captors, and will return to this land. For Adonai your God is compassionate and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

¹⁰ As the couriers traveled from town to town through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulun, they were scorned and mocked. ¹¹ Nevertheless some men from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 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 Adonai.

¹³ Now a very large assembly gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Matzot in the second month. ¹⁴ They arose and removed the altars and all the incense altars that were in Jerusalem, and threw them into the Kidron Valley. ¹⁵ Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The kohanim and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the House of Adonai. ¹⁶ They stood at their post as prescribed in the Torah of Moses, the man of God. The kohanim sprinkled the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the congregation that had not concecrated themselves, therefore the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover lambs for everyone that was not ceremonially clean in order to concecrate them to Adonai. ¹⁸ Although a great multitude of the people—many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun—had not purified themselves, they still ate the Passover lamb contrary to what is written.

But Hezekiah prayed for them saying: “May Adonai who is good, atone for ¹⁹ every one who prepares his heart to seek Adonai, the God of his fathers, even though he is not pure according to rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ Adonai heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ So the children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Matzot for seven days with great gladness. The Levites and the kohanim were praising Adonai every day with loud instruments for Adonai. ²² Then Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who demonstrated good understanding of the service of Adonai. For seven days they ate their assigned portions while sacrificing peace offerings and praising Adonai, the God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole congregation decided to celebrate seven more days—so for another seven days they celebrated with gladness. ²⁴ Hezekiah king of Judah contributed 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to the congregation, and the officials contributed 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep to the congregation, and great numbers of kohanim consecrated themselves. ²⁵ The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced with the kohanim and the Levites, and all who had assembled from Israel, both the strangers coming from the land of Israel and the residents of Judah. ²⁶ There was great joy in Jerusalem, for nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem since the time of Solomon son of David king of Israel. ²⁷ Then the Levitical kohanim arose and blessed the people, and Adonai heard their voice, for their prayer reached heaven, His holy dwelling place.

Restoring the Kohanim and Levites

31 When all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the towns of Judah and smashed the pillars, smashed the Asherah poles and demolished the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, as well as throughout Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all Bnei-Yisrael returned to their towns, each to their own property.

² Then Hezekiah reestablished the divisions of the kohanim and the Levites together with their divisions, each of the kohanim and Levites according to his service: for burnt offerings, peace offerings, to minister, to praise, or to sing praises in the gates of the courts of Adonai. ^{[a] 3} The king also contributed a portion of his own assets for the burnt offerings: the morning and the evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for Shabbatot, the New Moons and the moadim, as it is written in the Torah of Adonai. ⁴ Moreover, he commanded the people, the residents of Jerusalem, to give the portion allotted to the kohanim and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the Torah of Adonai. ⁵ As soon as the word spread, Bnei-Yisrael gave generously the firstfruits of their grain, wine, oil, honey and all the produce of the field, as well as tithe of all the abundance. ⁶ The children of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah, also brought in the tithe of bulls and sheep, and the tithe of the sacred things consecrated to Adonai their God. They piled them in heaps. ⁷ In the third month the heaps began to accumulate and finished in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed Adonai and His people Israel.

⁹ Hezekiah asked the kohanim and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰ Azariah the chief kohen from the house of Zadok, replied to him saying, “Ever since the gifts began to be brought into the House of Adonai, we have had enough to eat and more than enough, for Adonai has blessed His people with plenty left over.”

¹¹ Then Hezekiah ordered them to prepare storerooms in the House of Adonai, and they prepared them. ¹² They faithfully brought in the offerings and the tithes and the consecrated gifts. Conaniah the Levite was the leader in charge over them and Shimei his brother was next in rank. ¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath and Benaiah were supervisors under Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the leader in charge of the House of God. ¹⁴ Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, distributing the offering of Adonai and the consecrated gifts. ¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah faithfully assisted him in the towns of the kohanim, making allocations to their brothers by divisions—to great and little alike, ¹⁶ only considering genealogical records, to the males three years old and upward—to all who entered into the House of Adonai, to perform the daily duties according to their responsibilities and their divisions— ¹⁷ to the kohanim who were genealogically registered by their ancestral houses, as well as to the Levites 20 years old and upward, according to their duties and their divisions. ¹⁸ The genealogical registry included all their little ones, their wives and sons and daughters of the entire assembly. Thus in their faithfulness they consecrated themselves as holy.

¹⁹ As for the sons of Aaron, the kohanim, who lived in the fields of the common lands of their towns—in every town—men were designated by name to distribute portions to all the males among the kohanim and to all who were genealogically registered among the Levites. ²⁰ Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah. He did what was good, right and true before Adonai his God. ²¹ Every work he undertook in the service of the House of God and in the Torah and the mitzvot to seek his God, he did wholeheartedly and succeeded.

Betrayed and Arrested

18 When Yeshua had said these things, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley,^[a] where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. ² Now Judah, who was betraying Him, also knew the place, because Yeshua had often met there with His disciples. ³ So Judah, having taken a band of soldiers and some officers from the ruling kohanim and Pharisees, comes there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. ⁴ Then Yeshua, knowing all the things coming upon Him, went forward. He said to them, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵ “Yeshua ha-Natzrati,” they answered Him.

Yeshua tells them, “I am.” Now Judah, the one betraying Him, was also standing with them. ⁶ So when Yeshua said to them, “I am,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷ So again He asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And they said, “Yeshua ha-Natzrati.”

⁸ Yeshua answered, “I told you, I am! If you’re looking for Me, let these men go their way.” ⁹ This was so the word would be fulfilled that He spoke: “I did not lose one of those You have given Me.”^[b]

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the kohen gadol, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ So Yeshua said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath! The cup the Father has given Me—shall I never drink it?”

Interrogated and Tried

¹² Then the band of soldiers, with the captain and the officers of the Judeans, seized Yeshua and tied Him up. ¹³ They led Him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the kohen gadol that year. ¹⁴ Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Judean leaders that it was better for one man to die on behalf of the people.

¹⁵ Simon Peter was following Yeshua with another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the kohen gadol, so he went with Yeshua into the court of the kohen gadol. ¹⁶ But Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the kohen gadol, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.

¹⁷ The maidservant at the door says to Peter, “Aren’t you one of this Man’s disciples too?”

He says, “No, I’m not.” ¹⁸ The servants and officers were standing around a fire they had made, because it was cold and they were warming themselves. And Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.