2 Chronicles 30:2-12

2The king, his officers and all the people who lived in Jerusalem decided to have the Passover festival in the second month.

3Not enough priests had made themselves clean to serve the Lord. So they could not have the feast at the usual time. Also, all the people had not yet come to Jerusalem.

4This idea seemed right to the king and to all the people.

5So they sent a message with the king's command to all the people. They sent the message everywhere in Israel, from Beersheba to Dan. The message told the people to come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival to worship the Lord, Israel's God. Before that, they had not brought all the people together for the festival, as God's law taught them to do.

6So men took the letters from the king and his officers to all the people in Israel and Judah. The king's command said this: ‘A message to the people of Israel who have escaped from the power of the kings of Assyria. Turn back now to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Then he will turn back to you.

7Do not be like your parents and your relatives. They turned away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors. That made him so angry that he punished them, as you can see.

8Do not refuse to obey him, as your parents did. Instead, agree to serve him. Come to his temple. He has made it a holy place for ever. Serve the Lord your God so that he will stop being so angry with you.

9If you turn back to serve the Lord again, your enemies will be kind to your relatives and to your children. They will let them return here to their homes. The Lord your God is kind and he is ready to forgive you. So if you turn back to him, he will not send you away.’

10The men took this message to every town among the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as the tribe of Zebulun. But in all those places, people insulted them and they laughed at them.

11But some people from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun were not too proud to accept the king's message. They agreed to come to Jerusalem.

12As for the people of Judah, God caused them to accept the command that the king and his officers had given. They all agreed together to do what the Lord wanted them to do.