2 Chronicles 30:1-12

All Israel Invited to the Passover

¹Now Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ²For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month, ³since they could not celebrate it at that time, because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient numbers, nor had the people been gathered to Jerusalem. ⁴So the decision was right in the sight of the king and all the assembly. ⁵So they established a decree to circulate a proclamation throughout Israel from Beersheba to Dan, that they are to come to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem. For they had not celebrated it in great numbers as was written. ⁶The couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his princes, even according to the command of the king, saying, “Sons of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped and are left from the hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were untrue to the Lord God of their fathers, so that He made them an object of horror, just as you see. ⁸Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you. ⁹For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find compassion in the presence of those who led them captive, and will return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

¹⁰So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed at them with scorn and mocked them. ¹¹Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹²The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.

Passover Reinstituted