2 Tawarikh 30:5-11

30:5 So they sent an edict ¹  throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people ²  to come and observe a Passover for the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law. ³  30:6 Messengers ⁴  delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah.

This royal edict read: ⁵  “O Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return ⁶  to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria. ⁷  30:7 Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their ancestors, ⁸  provoking him to destroy them, ⁹  as you can see. 30:8 Now, don’t be stubborn ¹⁰  like your fathers! Submit ¹¹  to the Lord and come to his sanctuary which he has permanently consecrated. Serve the Lord your God so that he might relent from his raging anger. ¹²  30:9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will be shown mercy by their captors and return to this land. The Lord your God is merciful and compassionate; he will not reject you ¹³  if you return to him.”

30:10 The messengers journeyed from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but people mocked and ridiculed them. ¹⁴  30:11 But some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

[30:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and they caused to stand a word to cause a voice to pass through.”

[30:5]  ² tn The words “summoning the people” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:5]  ³ tn Heb “because not for abundance had they done as written.”

[30:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the runners.”

[30:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and according to the command of the king, saying.”

[30:6]  ⁶ tn The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[30:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the survivors who are left to you from the palm of the kings of Assyria.”

[30:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 19, 22).

[30:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he made them a devastation” (or, perhaps, “an object of horror”).

[30:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “don’t stiffen your neck” (a Hebrew idiom for being stubborn).

[30:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “give a hand.” On the meaning of the idiom here, see HALOT 387 s.v. I יָד 2.

[30:8]  ¹² tn Heb “so that the rage of his anger might turn from you.” The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[30:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “turn [his] face from you.”

[30:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they were mocking them and ridiculing them.”