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Joshua 5:10
On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.
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2 Chronicles 30 1-2 Chronicles 30 27
Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month.They had not been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly.They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:“ People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see.Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.If you return to the Lord, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but people scorned and ridiculed them.Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month.They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord.Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them by the Levites.Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to the Lord.Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying,“ May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyonewho sets their heart on seeking God— the Lord, the God of their ancestors— even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.”And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the Lord.Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the Lord. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors.The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully.Hezekiah king of Judah provided a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats for the assembly, and the officials provided them with a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep and goats. A great number of priests consecrated themselves.The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel, including the foreigners who had come from Israel and also those who resided in Judah.There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.
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Exodus 12:6-36
Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire— with the head, legs and internal organs.Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.“ On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.“ This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord— a lasting ordinance.For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.“ Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native- born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them,“ Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.“ Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.And when your children ask you,‘ What does this ceremony mean to you?’then tell them,‘ It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said,“ Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested.Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country.“ For otherwise,” they said,“ we will all die!”So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
