2 Chronicles 30:1-3

Hezekiah Observes the Passover

30:1 Hezekiah sent messages throughout Israel and Judah; he even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, summoning them to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem ¹  and observe a Passover celebration for the Lord God of Israel. 30:2 The king, his officials, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem decided to observe the Passover in the second month. 30:3 They were unable to observe it at the regular ²  time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 30:13-20

30:13 A huge crowd assembled in Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. ³  30:14 They removed the altars in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley. ⁴ 

30:15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord’s temple. 30:16 They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. ⁵  30:17 Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered ⁶  the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. ⁷  30:18 The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. ⁸  For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive ⁹  30:19 everyone who has determined to follow God, ¹⁰  the Lord God of his ancestors, even if he is not ceremonially clean according to the standards of the temple.” ¹¹  30:20 The Lord responded favorably ¹²  to Hezekiah and forgave ¹³  the people.

2 Chronicles 35:3-17

35:3 He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel about things consecrated to the Lord, “Place the holy ark in the temple which King Solomon son of David of Israel built. Don’t carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel! 35:4 Prepare yourselves by your families according to your divisions, as instructed ¹⁴  by King David of Israel and his son Solomon. 35:5 Stand in the sanctuary and, together with the Levites, represent the family divisions of your countrymen. ¹⁵  35:6 Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your countrymen to do what the Lord commanded through Moses.” ¹⁶ 

35:7 From his own royal flocks and herds, Josiah supplied the people with 30,000 lambs and goats for the Passover sacrifice, as well as 3,000 cattle. ¹⁷  35:8 His officials also willingly contributed to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the leaders of God’s temple, supplied 2,600 Passover sacrifices and 300 cattle. 35:9 Konaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the officials of the Levites, supplied the Levites with 5,000 Passover sacrifices and 500 cattle. 35:10 Preparations were made, ¹⁸  and the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions as prescribed by the king. 35:11 They slaughtered the Passover lambs and the priests splashed the blood, ¹⁹  while the Levites skinned the animals. 35:12 They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the Lord, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. ²⁰  35:13 They cooked the Passover sacrifices over the open fire as prescribed and cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They quickly served them to all the people. 35:14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 35:15 The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. ²¹  The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them. 35:16 So all the preparations for the Lord’s service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, as prescribed by King Josiah. 35:17 So the Israelites who were present observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

[30:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[30:3]  ² tn Heb “at that time.”

[30:13]  ³ tn The Hebrew text adds here, “a very large assembly.” This has not been translated to avoid redundancy with the expression “a huge crowd” at the beginning of the verse.

[30:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they arose and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem, and all the incense altars they removed and threw into the Kidron Valley.”

[30:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the hand of the Levites.”

[30:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “were over the slaughter of.”

[30:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “of everyone not pure to consecrate to the Lord.”

[30:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “without what is written.”

[30:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “make atonement for.”

[30:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “everyone [who] has prepared his heart to seek God.”

[30:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and not according to the purification of the holy place.”

[30:20]  ¹² tn Heb “listened.”

[30:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “healed.”

[35:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “written.”

[35:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and stand in the sanctuary by the divisions of the house of the fathers for your brothers, the sons of the people, and a division of the house of a father for the Levites.”

[35:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.”

[35:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Josiah supplied for the sons of the people sheep, lambs and sons of goats, the whole for the Passover sacrifices for everyone who was found according to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand cattle. These were from the property of the king.”

[35:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the service was prepared.”

[35:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from their hand.”

[35:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they put aside the burnt offering[s] to give them to the divisions of the house of the fathers for the sons of the people to bring near to the Lord as it is written in the scroll of Moses – and the same with the cattle.”

[35:15]  ²¹ tn Or “seer.”