2 Chronicles 30 1-2 Chronicles 30 27
Now 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.For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month,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.So the decision was right in the sight of the king and all the assembly.So 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.The 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.Do 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.Now 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.For 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.”So 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.Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.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.Now many people were gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very large assembly.They got up and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the brook Kidron.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.They stood at their stations following 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.For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, the Levites were in charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord.For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, and Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying,“ May the good Lord pardoneveryone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.”So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.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 were praising the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord.Then Hezekiah spoke 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.Then the whole assembly decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy.For Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the princes had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a large number of priests consecrated themselves.All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, with the priests and the Levites and all the assembly that came from Israel, both the strangers who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah.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.Then the Levitical priests stood and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.
Exodus 12:6-36
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire.Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry— it is the Lord’s Passover.For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments— I am the Lord.The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.‘ Now this day shall be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person— that alone may be prepared by you.You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.For seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them,“ Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb.And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this rite.And when your children say to you,‘ What does this rite mean to you?’then you shall say,‘ It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped.Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said,“ Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said.Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said,“ We will all be dead.”So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing;and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they plundered the Egyptians.
