2 Tawarikh 30:12-23

30:12 In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹  30:13 A huge crowd assembled in Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. ²  30:14 They removed the altars in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley. ³ 

30:15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord’s temple. 30:16 They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. ⁴  30:17 Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered ⁵  the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. ⁶  30:18 The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. ⁷  For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive ⁸  30:19 everyone who has determined to follow God, ⁹  the Lord God of his ancestors, even if he is not ceremonially clean according to the standards of the temple.” ¹⁰  30:20 The Lord responded favorably ¹¹  to Hezekiah and forgave ¹²  the people.

30:21 The Israelites who were in Jerusalem observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests were praising the Lord every day with all their might. ¹³  30:22 Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites, ¹⁴  who demonstrated great skill in serving the Lord. ¹⁵  They feasted for the seven days of the festival, ¹⁶  and were making peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors.

30:23 The entire assembly then decided to celebrate for seven more days; so they joyfully celebrated for seven more days.

[30:12]  ¹ tn Heb “also in Judah the hand of God was to give to them one heart to do the command of the king and the officials by the word of the Lord.”

[30:13]  ² tn The Hebrew text adds here, “a very large assembly.” This has not been translated to avoid redundancy with the expression “a huge crowd” at the beginning of the verse.

[30:14]  ³ tn Heb “and they arose and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem, and all the incense altars they removed and threw into the Kidron Valley.”

[30:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the hand of the Levites.”

[30:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “were over the slaughter of.”

[30:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “of everyone not pure to consecrate to the Lord.”

[30:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “without what is written.”

[30:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “make atonement for.”

[30:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “everyone [who] has prepared his heart to seek God.”

[30:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and not according to the purification of the holy place.”

[30:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “listened.”

[30:20]  ¹² tn Heb “healed.”

[30:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and they were praising the Lord day by day, the Levites and the priests with instruments of strength to the Lord.” The phrase בִּכְלֵי־עֹז (bikhley-’oz, “with instruments of strength”) might refer to loud sounding musical instruments (NASB “with loud instruments”; NEB “with unrestrained fervour”). The present translation assumes an emendation to בְּכָל־עֹז (bÿkhol-’oz, “with all strength”); see 1 Chr 13:8, as well as HALOT 805 s.v. I עֹז and BDB 739 s.v. עֹז).

[30:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites.” On the meaning of the idiom “speak to the heart of” here, see HALOT 210 s.v. II דבר 8.d.

[30:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “who demonstrated skill [with] good skill for the Lord.”

[30:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they ate [during] the appointed time [for] seven days.” מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “appointed time”) is probably an adverbial accusative of time referring to the festival. However, some understand it as metonymically referring to the food eaten during the festival. See BDB 417 s.v.