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This idea seemed right to the king and to all the people. So they sent a message with the king's command to all the people. They sent the message everywhere in Israel, from Beersheba to Dan. The message told the people to come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival to worship the Lord, Israel's God. Before that, they had not brought all the people together for the festival, as God's law taught them to do.

So men took the letters from the king and his officers to all the people in Israel and Judah. The king's command said this:

‘A message to the people of Israel who have escaped from the power of the kings of Assyria. Turn back now to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Then he will turn back to you.

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The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly. They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan,(A) calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.

At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:

“People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

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