rsv 2Chronicles:30:2-15 SEEK
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For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the passover in the second month --
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for they could not keep it in its time because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number ,
nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem --
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and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly .
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So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel ,
from Beer-sheba to Dan ,
that the people should come and keep the passover to the LORD the God of Israel ,
at Jerusalem ;
for they had not kept it in great numbers as prescribed .
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So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes ,
as the king had commanded ,
saying , "
O people of Israel ,
return to the LORD ,
the God of Abraham ,
Isaac ,
and Israel ,
that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria .
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Do not be like your fathers and your brethren ,
who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers ,
so that he made them a desolation ,
as you see .
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Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were ,
but yield yourselves to the LORD ,
and come to his sanctuary ,
which he has sanctified for ever ,
and serve the LORD your God ,
that his fierce anger may turn away from you .
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For if you return to the LORD ,
your brethren and your children will find compassion with their captors ,
and return to this land .
For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful ,
and will not turn away his face from you ,
if you return to him ."
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So the couriers went from city to city through the country of E '
phraim and Manas '
seh ,
and as far as Zeb '
ulun ;
but they laughed them to scorn ,
and mocked them .
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Only a few men of Asher ,
of Manas '
seh ,
and of Zeb '
ulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem .
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The hand of God was also upon Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD .
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And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month ,
a very great assembly .
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They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem ,
and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the Kidron valley .
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And they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month .
And the priests and the Levites were put to shame ,
so that they sanctified themselves ,
and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD .