2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21

2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21        NASB

CH. 30

1 Now Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to ^[a]celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ² For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month, ³ since 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. ⁴ Thus the thing was right in the sight of the king and ^[b]all the assembly. ⁵ So they established a decree to circulate a ^[c]proclamation throughout all Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem. For they had not celebrated it in great numbers as it was ^[d]prescribed. ⁶ The ^[e]couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his princes, even according to the command of the king, saying, “O 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 ^[f]hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their fathers, so that He made them a horror, as you see. ⁸ Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but ^[g]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. ⁹ For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before 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.”

¹⁰ So the ^[h]couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. ¹¹ Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The 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.

¹³ Now many people were gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very large assembly. ¹⁴ They arose and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and cast them into the brook Kidron. ¹⁵ Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth of the second month. And the priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ They stood at their stations after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, the Levites were over the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord. ¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than ^[i]prescribed. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon ¹⁹ everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. ²¹ The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord. ²² Then Hezekiah spoke ^[j]encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good insight in the things of the Lord. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy. ²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the princes had contributed to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep; and a large number of priests consecrated themselves. ²⁵ All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, with the priests and the Levites and all the assembly that came from Israel, both the sojourners who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. ²⁷ Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

CH. 31

1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the ^[k]Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, ^[l]until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

² And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites by their divisions, each according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord.

³ He also appointed the king’s portion of his goods for the burnt offerings, namely, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the fixed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord. ⁴ Also he ^[m]commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord. ⁵ As soon as the ^[n]order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all. ⁶ The sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of ^[o]sacred gifts which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and placed them in heaps. ⁷ In the third month they began to ^[p]make the heaps, and finished them by the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the rulers 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 Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok said to ^[q]him, “Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the Lord has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over.”

¹¹ Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. ¹² They faithfully brought in the contributions and the tithes and the consecrated things; and Conaniah the Levite was the officer in charge of them and his brother Shimei was second. ¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath and Benaiah were overseers ^[r]under the authority of Conaniah and Shimei his brother by the appointment of King Hezekiah, and Azariah was the chief officer of the house of God. ¹⁴ Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the eastern gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to apportion the contributions for the Lord and the most holy things. ^15 [s]Under his authority were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah in the cities of the priests, to distribute faithfully their portions to their brothers by divisions, whether great or small, ¹⁶ without regard to their genealogical enrollment, to the males from ^[t]thirty years old and upward—everyone who entered the house of the Lord for his daily obligations—for their work in their duties according to their divisions; ¹⁷ as well as the priests who were enrolled genealogically according to their fathers’ households, and the Levites from twenty years old and upwards, by their duties and their divisions. ¹⁸ The genealogical enrollment included ^[u]all their little children, their wives, their sons and their daughters, for the whole assembly, for they consecrated themselves ^[v]faithfully in holiness. ¹⁹ Also for the sons of Aaron the priests who were in the pasture lands of their cities, or in each and every city, there were men who were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone genealogically enrolled among the Levites.

²⁰ Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah; and he did what was good, right and true before the Lord his God. ²¹ Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered.