9. When you return to the Lord, your relatives and children will find compassion from those who captured them. They will return to this land. The Lord your God is merciful and compassionate. He will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”
10. So the messengers went from city to city in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun. But the people ridiculed them.
11. However, some people from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12. Also, God guided the people of Judah so that they united to carry out the command which the king and the leaders gave from the Lord’s word.
13. Many people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month. They formed a large assembly.
14. Then the people got rid of the ⌊idols’⌋ altars in Jerusalem. They got rid of all the altars for incense by dumping them in the Kidron Valley.
15. They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they brought burnt offerings to the Lord’s temple.
16. They stood in their regular places as instructed by Moses’ Teachings. (Moses was a man of God.) The priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites.
17. Many people in the assembly had not made themselves holy. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all who weren’t clean and couldn’t make their lambs holy for the Lord.
18. Many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean. So they ate the Passover, but not in the way the written instructions said they should. Hezekiah prayed for them: “May the good Lord forgive
19. those who have their hearts set on dedicating their lives to serving God. May the Lord God of their ancestors do this for those who are not clean as required for the holy place.”