[30:13] A great number of people gathered in Jerusalem in the second month to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
[30:14] They took all the altars that had been used in Jerusalem for offering sacrifices and burning incense and threw them into Kidron Valley.
[30:15] And on the fourteenth day of the month they killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. The priests and Levites who were not ritually clean became so ashamed that they dedicated themselves to the Lord, and now they could sacrifice burnt offerings in the Temple.
[30:16] They took their places in the Temple according to the instructions in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood of the sacrifices to the priests, who sprinkled it on the altar.
[30:17] Because many of the people were not ritually clean, they could not kill the Passover lambs, so the Levites did it for them and dedicated the lambs to the Lord.
[30:18] In addition, many of those who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not performed the ritual of purification, and so they were observing Passover improperly. King Hezekiah offered this prayer for them:
[30:19] “O Lord, the God of our ancestors, in your goodness forgive those who are worshiping you with all their heart, even though they are not ritually clean.”
[30:20] The Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer; he forgave the people and did not harm them.
[30:21] For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the Lord with all their strength.
[30:22] Hezekiah praised the Levites for their skill in conducting the worship of the Lord.