Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

2 Chronicles 29
³³ They also brought 600 cattle and 3,000 sheep and goats as sacred offerings.
³⁴ But there were too few priests to prepare all the burnt offerings. So their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was finished and more priests had been purified, for the Levites had been more conscientious about purifying themselves than the priests had been.
³⁵ There was an abundance of burnt offerings, along with the usual liquid offerings, and a great deal of fat from the many peace offerings. So the Temple of the LORD was restored to service.
³⁶ And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people, for everything had been accomplished so quickly.
2 Chronicles 30
¹ King Hezekiah now sent word to all Israel and Judah, and he wrote letters of invitation to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh. He asked everyone to come to the Temple of the LORD at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel.
² The king, his officials, and all the community of Jerusalem decided to celebrate Passover a month later than usual.
³ They were unable to celebrate it at the prescribed time because not enough priests could be purified by then, and the people had not yet assembled at Jerusalem.
⁴ This plan for keeping the Passover seemed right to the king and all the people.
⁵ So they sent a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north, inviting everyone to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel. The people had not been celebrating it in great numbers as required in the Law.
⁶ At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They carried letters that said: “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he will return to the few of us who have survived the conquest of the Assyrian kings.
⁷ Do not be like your ancestors and relatives who abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and became an object of derision, as you yourselves can see.