Hezekiah Keeps the Passover

30 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ² For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second ^(A)month. ³ For they could not keep it ^(B)at ^[a]the regular time, ^(C)because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. ⁴ And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. ⁵ So they ^[b]resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.

⁶ Then the ^(D)runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, ^(E)return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of ^(F)the kings of ^(G)Assyria. ⁷ And do not be ^(H)like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, so that He ^(I)gave them up to ^(J)desolation, as you see. ⁸ Now do not be ^(K)stiff-necked,^[c] as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, ^(L)that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. ⁹ For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will be treated with ^(M)compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the Lord your God is ^(N)gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you ^(O)return to Him.”

¹⁰ So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but ^(P)they laughed at them and mocked them. ¹¹ Nevertheless ^(Q)some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² Also ^(R)the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, ^(S)at the word of the Lord.

¹³ Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of ^(T)Unleavened Bread in the second month. ¹⁴ They arose and took away the ^(U)altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook ^(V)Kidron. ¹⁵ Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites ^[d]were ^(W)ashamed, and ^[e]sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ They stood in their ^(X)place ^[f]according to their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not ^[g]sanctified themselves; ^(Y)therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the Lord. ¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, ^(Z)many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, ^(AA)yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone ¹⁹ who ^(AB)prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept ^(AC)the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing to the Lord, accompanied by loud instruments. ²² And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites ^(AD)who taught the good knowledge of the Lord; and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and ^(AE)making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast ^(AF)another seven days, and they kept it another seven days with gladness. ²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah ^(AG)gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests ^(AH)sanctified^[h] themselves. ²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and Levites, all the assembly that came from Israel, the sojourners ^(AI)who came from the land of Israel, and those who dwelt in Judah. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of ^(AJ)Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. ²⁷ Then the priests, the Levites, arose and ^(AK)blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to ^(AL)His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

The Reforms of Hezekiah^(AM)

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and ^(AN)broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the ^[i]high places and the altars—from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh—until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.

² And Hezekiah appointed ^(AO)the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and Levites ^(AP)for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the ^[j]camp of the Lord. ³ The king also appointed a ^[k]portion of his ^(AQ)possessions^[l] for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts, as it is written in the ^(AR)Law of the Lord.

⁴ Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute ^(AS)support^[m] for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to ^(AT)the Law of the Lord.

⁵ As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance ^(AU)the firstfruits of grain and wine, oil and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the ^(AV)tithe of everything. ⁶ And the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and sheep; also the ^(AW)tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God they laid in heaps.

⁷ In the third month they began laying them in heaps, and they finished in the seventh month. ⁸ And when Hezekiah and the leaders came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and His people Israel. ⁹ Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. ¹⁰ And Azariah the chief priest, from the ^(AX)house of Zadok, answered him and said, ^(AY)“Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left, for the Lord has blessed His people; and what is left is this great ^(AZ)abundance.”

¹¹ Now Hezekiah commanded them to prepare ^(BA)rooms^[n] in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. ¹² Then they faithfully brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things; ^(BB)Cononiah the Levite had charge of them, and Shimei his brother was the next. ¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ^(BC)ruler of the house of God. ¹⁴ Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the East Gate, was over the ^(BD)freewill offerings to God, to distribute the offerings of the Lord and the most holy things. ¹⁵ And under him were ^(BE)Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, his faithful assistants in ^(BF)the cities of the priests, to distribute ^(BG)allotments to their brethren by divisions, to the great as well as the small.

¹⁶ Besides those males from three years old and up who were written in the genealogy, they distributed to everyone who entered the house of the Lord his daily portion for the work of his service, by his division, ¹⁷ and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father’s house, and to the Levites ^(BH)from twenty years old and up according to their work, by their divisions, ¹⁸ and to all who were written in the genealogy—their little ones and their wives, their sons and daughters, the whole company of them—for in their faithfulness they ^[o]sanctified themselves in holiness.

¹⁹ Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in ^(BI)the fields of the common-lands of their cities, in every single city, there were men who were ^(BJ)designated by name to distribute portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were listed by genealogies among the Levites.

²⁰ Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he ^(BK)did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. ²¹ And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he ^(BL)prospered.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord^(BM)

32 After ^(BN)these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself. ² And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, ³ he consulted with his leaders and ^[p]commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴ Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the ^(BO)springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, “Why should the ^[q]kings of Assyria come and find much water?” ⁵ And ^(BP)he strengthened himself, ^(BQ)built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired ^[r]the ^(BR)Millo in the City of David, and made ^[s]weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶ Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and ^(BS)gave them encouragement, saying, ^7 (BT)“Be strong and courageous; ^(BU)do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for ^(BV)there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is an ^(BW)arm of flesh; but ^(BX)with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.