saying, "Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the
remnant that are escaped of you out of the hand of the kings of
Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren,
which trespassed against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that
he gave them up to desolation, as ye see. Now be ye not stiff-necked,
as your fathers were; but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter
into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever, and serve the
Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if ye
turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find
compassion before them that led them captive, and shall come again
into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and
will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him."

So the messengers passed from city to city through {306} Ephraim and
Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and
mocked them. Nevertheless some of the people of Asher and Manasseh and
of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah was
the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the
king and of the princes by the word of the Lord. And there assembled
at Jerusalem many people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the
second month, a very great congregation. And they arose and took away
the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took
they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron. Then they killed the
passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests
and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought
burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. And they stood in their
place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God:
the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of
the Levites. For there were many in the congregation that had not
sanctified themselves: therefore the Levites had the charge of killing
the passovers for everyone that was not clean, to sanctify them unto
the Lord. For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and
Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did
they eat the passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had
prayed for them, saying, "The good Lord pardon every one that setteth
his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, though he be
not cle