Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

Hezekiah Celebrates the Passover Feast

30 Hezekiah sent a message to all the people of Israel and Judah. He also wrote letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. He invited everyone to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. He wanted them to celebrate the Passover Feast to honor the Lord. He is the God of Israel. ² The king, his officials and the whole community in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover Feast in the second month. ³ They hadn’t been able to celebrate it at the regular time. That’s because there weren’t enough priests who had set themselves apart to the Lord. Also, the people hadn’t gathered together in Jerusalem. ⁴ The plan seemed good to the king and the whole community. ⁵ They decided to send a message all through Israel. It was sent out from Beersheba all the way to Dan. The message invited the people to come to Jerusalem. It invited them to celebrate the Passover Feast to honor the Lord, the God of Israel. The Passover Feast hadn’t been celebrated by large numbers of people for a long time. It hadn’t been done in keeping with what was written in the law.

⁶ Messengers went all through Israel and Judah. They carried letters from the king and his officials. The king had ordered them to do that. The letters said,

“People of Israel, return to the Lord. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Return to him. Then he will return to you who are left in the land. You have escaped from the power of the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Don’t be like your parents and the rest of your people. They weren’t faithful to the Lord, the God of their people. That’s why he punished them. He made them look so bad that everyone was shocked when they saw them. You can see it for yourselves. ⁸ Don’t be stubborn. Don’t be as your people were. Obey the Lord. Come to his temple. He has set it apart to himself forever. Serve the Lord your God. Then he’ll stop being angry with you. ⁹ Suppose you return to the Lord. Then those who captured your relatives and children will be kind to them. In fact, your relatives and children will come back to this land. The Lord your God is kind and tender. He won’t turn away from you if you return to him.”

¹⁰ The messengers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh. They went all the way to Zebulun. But people laughed and made fun of them. ¹¹ In spite of that, some people from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun made themselves humble. They went to Jerusalem. ¹² God helped the people of Judah. He helped them agree with one another. So they did what the king and his officials had ordered. They did what the Lord told them to do.

¹⁰ All who depend on obeying the law are under a curse. It is written, “May everyone who doesn’t continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law be under God’s curse.” (Deuteronomy 27:26) ¹¹ We know that no one who depends on the law is made right with God. This is because “the one who is right with God will live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) ¹² The law is not based on faith. In fact, it is just the opposite. It teaches that “the person who does these things will live by them.” (Leviticus 18:5) ¹³ Christ set us free from the curse of the law. He did it by becoming a curse for us. It is written, “Everyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.” (Deuteronomy 21:23) ¹⁴ Christ Jesus set us free so that the blessing given to Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ. He did it so that we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. The promised Spirit comes by believing in Christ.