And Hezekiahsent to all Israel and Judah, and wrotelettersalso to Ephraim and Manasseh, thattheyshouldcome to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passoverunto the LORD God of Israel.
For theycould not keep it at thattime, because the priests had not sanctifiedthemselvessufficiently, neither had the peoplegatheredthemselvestogether to Jerusalem.
So theyestablished a decree to makeproclamationthroughout all Israel, fromBeershebaeven to Dan, thattheyshouldcome to keep the passoverunto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a longtime in suchsort as it was written.
So the postswentwith the lettersfrom the king and his princesthroughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turnagainunto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he willreturn to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
And be not ye likeyourfathers, and likeyourbrethren, whichtrespassedagainst the LORD God of theirfathers, who thereforegavethem up to desolation, as ye see.
Now be ye not stiffnecked, as yourfatherswere, but yieldyourselvesunto the LORD, and enterinto his sanctuary, which he hathsanctified for ever: and serve the LORDyour God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turnawayfrom you.
For if ye turnagainunto the LORD, yourbrethren and yourchildrenshallfindcompassionbeforethemthatleadthemcaptive, so thattheyshallcomeagainintothisland: for the LORDyour God is gracious and merciful, and will not turnaway his facefrom you, if ye returnunto him.
Thentheykilled the passover on the fourteenth day of the secondmonth: and the priests and the Leviteswereashamed, and sanctifiedthemselves, and brought in the burntofferingsinto the house of the LORD.
And theystood in theirplaceaftertheirmanner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priestssprinkled the blood, whichtheyreceived of the hand of the Levites.
For thereweremany in the congregationthatwere not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctifythemunto the LORD.
For a multitude of the people, evenmany of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansedthemselves, yet did they eat the passoverotherwisethan it was written. But Hezekiahprayed for them, saying, The goodLORDpardonevery one
And the children of Israelthatwerepresent at Jerusalemkept the feast of unleavenedbreadsevendayswithgreatgladness: and the Levites and the priestspraised the LORD day by day, singingwithloudinstrumentsunto the LORD.
And Hezekiahspakecomfortablyunto all the Levitesthattaught the goodknowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feastsevendays, offeringpeaceofferings, and makingconfession to the LORD God of theirfathers.
For Hezekiahking of Judah did give to the congregation a thousandbullocks and seventhousandsheep; and the princesgave to the congregation a thousandbullocks and ten thousandsheep: and a greatnumber of priestssanctifiedthemselves.
And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregationthatcame out of Israel, and the strangersthatcame out of the land of Israel, and thatdwelt in Judah, rejoiced.