2 Chronicles 35

⁶You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

³You are to observe it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with its statutes and ordinances.”

¹⁹On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles kept the Passover.

²¹The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

²²No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah.

²¹On the fourteenth day of the first month you are to observe the Passover, a feast of seven days, during which unleavened bread shall be eaten.

¹Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

²You are to offer to the Lord your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

²Hezekiah reestablished the divisions of the priests and Levites—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—for the burnt offerings and peace offerings, for ministry, for giving thanks, and for singing praises at the gates of the Lord’s dwelling.

¹⁹Now set your heart and soul to seek the Lord your God. Begin building the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

⁸So the Levites and all Judah did everything that Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each of them took his men—those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty—for Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions.

¹These were the divisions of the descendants of Aaron. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

⁵“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.

⁶For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on Him.

¹⁸They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

²⁶So now the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles for its service.”

¹⁰He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

⁷For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

²²And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the Lord. For seven days they ate their assigned portion, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

⁸accompanied by certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah—along with the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

⁹They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord. They went throughout the towns of Judah and taught the people.

⁷Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

¹⁴In keeping with the ordinances of his father David, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, and the Levites for their duties to offer praise and to minister before the priests according to the daily requirement. He also appointed gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God.

¹When David was old and full of years, he installed his son Solomon as king over Israel.

²Then he gathered all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites.

¹These were the divisions of the descendants of Aaron. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

¹⁰From the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, and Jachin;

¹¹Azariah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of God’s temple;

¹⁰From the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib; Jachin;

¹¹Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of the house of God;

¹A song of ascents. Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who serve by night in the house of the Lord!

¹⁸They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

²who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

⁵“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the command of the king by the words of the Lord.

⁵And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

⁶You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

²So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

⁶³And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the Lord.

²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah contributed a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the assembly, and the officials contributed a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep for the assembly, and a great number of priests consecrated themselves.

⁸So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days.

⁹On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more.

³The king contributed from his own possessions for the regular morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts, as written in the Law of the Lord.

³Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give for it my personal treasures of gold and silver, over and above all that I have provided for this holy temple:

¹⁷And it shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—for all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

³¹Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.

³²The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.

¹⁴While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses.

¹⁵And Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” And he gave it to Shaphan.

⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common.

⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need.

⁷Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

⁶Then the leaders of the families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly.

⁷Toward the service of God’s house they gave 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze, and 100,000 talents of iron.

⁷⁰Some of the heads of the families contributed to the project. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments.

⁷¹And some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the project 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver.

⁶With what shall I come before the Lord when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

⁷Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹²And they faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes, and dedicated gifts. Conaniah the Levite was the officer in charge of them, and his brother Shimei was second.

¹⁰Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord.

²¹This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

²²For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

¹⁶They stood at their prescribed posts, according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests splattered the blood, which they received from the hand of the Levites.

¹⁸They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

⁴Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and Solomon his son.

⁵Moreover, stand in the Holy Place by the divisions of the families of your kinsmen the lay people, and by the divisions of the families of the Levites.

³⁴However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.

⁵And he shall slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests are to present the blood and splatter it on all sides of the altar at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁶Next, he is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.

¹⁶They stood at their prescribed posts, according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests splattered the blood, which they received from the hand of the Levites.

³And they shall attend to your duties and to all the duties of the Tent; but they must not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die.

²²So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splattered it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splattered the blood on the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs and splattered the blood on the altar.

²³Then they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them.

⁷But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”

⁹And from the peace offering he shall bring a food offering to the Lord consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,

¹⁰both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

⁵Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

³From the peace offering he is to bring a food offering to the Lord: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,

¹⁴And from his offering he shall present a food offering to the Lord: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,

¹⁵both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

⁸They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts.

¹³or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling

¹⁴and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

⁷And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the Lord your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.

²⁸The clay pot in which the sin offering is boiled must be broken; if it is boiled in a bronze pot, the pot must be scoured and rinsed with water.

¹¹Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

¹²Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the Lord made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?

¹³He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.

²So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will assign this responsibility to them

¹Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:

²From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

¹⁷These were the gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their chief;

¹⁸he was previously stationed at the King’s Gate on the east side. These were the gatekeepers from the camp of the Levites.

¹²These divisions of the gatekeepers, through their chief men, had duties for ministering in the house of the Lord, just as their relatives did.

¹³They cast lots for each gate, according to their families, young and old alike.

¹A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

¹A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.

¹For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me.

¹⁵For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.

⁶For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord.

⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten during those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, nor shall leaven be found anywhere within your borders.

³You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

⁴No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.

¹⁵You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised the Lord day after day, accompanied by loud instruments of praise to the Lord.

²²And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the Lord. For seven days they ate their assigned portion, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

⁸For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the Lord your God, and you must not do any work.

⁵So they established a decree to circulate a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem. For they had not observed it in great numbers as prescribed.

²¹The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

²²No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah.

²⁶So there was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for nothing like this had happened there since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel.

²⁷Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard their voice, and their prayer came into His holy dwelling place in heaven.

²⁹During Josiah’s reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to confront him, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

³⁰From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

⁹“Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

²concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:

³“Deploy your shields, small and large; advance for battle!

¹⁹You have said, ‘Look, I have defeated Edom,’ and your heart has become proud and boastful. Now stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

²⁵So now, was it apart from the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

¹⁰So now, was it apart from the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

⁴“Woman, what is that to you and to Me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

¹⁰But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the Lord told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”

²⁹“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

¹⁹Kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they took no plunder of silver.

²⁹And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³⁰And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

²¹But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, O king of Judah? I have not come against you today, but I am fighting another dynasty, and God has told me to hurry. So stop opposing God, who is with me, or He will destroy you!”

²and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now get up, disguise yourself so they will not recognize you as my wife, and go to Shiloh. For Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who spoke about my kingship over this people.

⁴But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the Lord.”

⁵So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

³⁴However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

²⁴Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.

¹³He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.

²³The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility.

²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.

³³However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

¹¹On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

³⁰From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

¹So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

²It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

²⁸‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place and on its people.’” So they brought her answer back to the king.

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

⁶Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

¹⁰Do not weep for him who is dead; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for him who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.

²⁰The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

²³When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.

¹⁷This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.

¹⁸Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.

⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

²⁰So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the Lord his God.

³²As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of loving devotion, they are indeed written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁵As for the rest of the acts of Amon, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

³⁴As for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from beginning to end, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

³²As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of loving devotion, they are indeed written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹⁹His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.

²⁶As for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from beginning to end, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?

²⁰As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, along with all his might and how he constructed the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?