30:21 The Israelites who were in Jerusalem observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests were praising the Lord every day with all their might. 1 30:22 Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites, 2 who demonstrated great skill in serving the Lord. 3 They feasted for the seven days of the festival, 4 and were making peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors.
30:23 The entire assembly then decided to celebrate for seven more days; so they joyfully celebrated for seven more days. 30:24 King Hezekiah of Judah supplied 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep 5 for the assembly, while the officials supplied them 6 with 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. Many priests consecrated themselves.
1 tn Heb “and they were praising the
2 tn Heb “and Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites.” On the meaning of the idiom “speak to the heart of” here, see HALOT 210 s.v. II דבר 8.d.
3 tn Heb “who demonstrated skill [with] good skill for the
4 tn Heb “and they ate [during] the appointed time [for] seven days.” מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “appointed time”) is probably an adverbial accusative of time referring to the festival. However, some understand it as metonymically referring to the food eaten during the festival. See BDB 417 s.v.
5 tn The Hebrew term צֹאן (ts’on, translated “sheep” twice in this verse) denotes smaller livestock in general; depending on context it can refer to sheep only or goats only, but their is nothing in the immediate context here to specify one or the other.
6 tn Heb “the assembly.” The pronoun “them” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.