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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>2 Chronicles 30 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_chronicles/30.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/2_chronicles/30-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > 2 Chronicles 30</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_chronicles/29.htm" title="2 Chronicles 29">◄</a> 2 Chronicles 30 <a href="../2_chronicles/31.htm" title="2 Chronicles 31">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch14030" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn14030" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Invitation to Passover.</span> <span id="v14030001" class="ver">1</span>Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying that they should come to the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of Israel.<a id="ren14030001-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14030001-a">a</a> <span id="v14030002" class="ver">2</span><a id="ren14030002-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14030002-b">b</a> The king, his princes, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to celebrate the Passover during the second month. <span id="v14030003" class="ver">3</span>They could not celebrate it at the regular time because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient numbers, and the people were not gathered at Jerusalem. <span id="v14030004" class="ver">4</span>This seemed right to the king and the entire assembly, <span id="v14030005" class="ver">5</span>and they issued a decree to be proclaimed throughout all Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, that everyone should come to celebrate the Passover to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem; for not many had kept it in the prescribed manner. <span id="v14030006" class="ver">6</span>By the king’s command, the couriers, with the letters written by the king and his princes, went through all Israel and Judah. They said: “Israelites, return to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to you, the remnant left from the hands of the Assyrian kings. <span id="v14030007" class="ver">7</span>Do not be like your ancestors and your kin who acted treacherously toward the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of their ancestors, so that he handed them over to desolation, as you yourselves now see.<a id="ren14030007-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14030007-c">c</a> <span id="v14030008" class="ver">8</span>Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; stretch out your hands to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and come to his sanctuary that he has consecrated forever, and serve the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, that he may turn his burning anger from you. <span id="v14030009" class="ver">9</span>If you return to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your kinfolk and your children will find mercy with their captors and return to this land. The <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, is gracious and merciful and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.”<a id="ren14030009-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14030009-d">d</a></p> <p><span id="v14030010" class="ver">10</span>So the couriers passed from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulun, but they were derided and scoffed at. <span id="v14030011" class="ver">11</span>Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. <span id="v14030012" class="ver">12</span>In Judah, however, the hand of God brought it about that the people were of one heart to carry out the command of the king and the princes by the word of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. <span id="v14030013" class="ver">13</span>Thus many people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month; it was a very great assembly.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Passover Celebrated.</span> <span id="v14030014" class="ver">14</span>They proceeded to remove the altars that were in Jerusalem as well as all the altars of incense, and cast them into the Wadi Kidron.<a id="ren14030014-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14030014-e">e</a> <span id="v14030015" class="ver">15</span>They slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were shamed into sanctifying themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. <span id="v14030016" class="ver">16</span>They stood in the places prescribed for them according to the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests splashed the blood given them by the Levites; <span id="v14030017" class="ver">17</span>for many in the assembly had not sanctified themselves, and the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover victims for all who were unclean so as to consecrate them to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>.<a id="ren14030017-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en14030017-f">f</a> <span id="v14030018" class="ver">18</span>The greater part of the people, in fact, chiefly from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves. Nevertheless they ate the Passover, contrary to the prescription; because Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good <span class="tetr">Lord</span> grant pardon to <span id="v14030019" class="ver">19</span>all who have set their heart to seek God, the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of their ancestors, even though they are not clean as holiness requires.” <span id="v14030020" class="ver">20</span>The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> heard Hezekiah and healed the people.</p> <p><span id="v14030021" class="ver">21</span>Thus the Israelites who were in Jerusalem celebrated the feast of Unleavened Bread with great rejoicing for seven days, and the Levites and the priests sang the praises of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> day after day with all their strength. <span id="v14030022" class="ver">22</span>Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had shown themselves well skilled in the service of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. And when they had completed the seven days of festival, sacrificing communion offerings and singing praises to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of their ancestors, <span id="v14030023" class="ver">23</span>the whole assembly agreed to celebrate another seven days. So with joy they celebrated seven days more. <span id="v14030024" class="ver">24</span>King Hezekiah of Judah had contributed a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep to the assembly, and the princes a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. The priests sanctified themselves in great numbers, <span id="v14030025" class="ver">25</span>and the whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, together with the priests and Levites and the rest of the assembly that had come from Israel, as well as the resident aliens from the land of Israel and those that lived in Judah. <span id="v14030026" class="ver">26</span>There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like it in the city. <span id="v14030027" class="ver">27</span>Then the levitical priests rose and blessed the people; their voice was heard and their prayer reached heaven, God’s holy dwelling.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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