10 The messengers went to every town in Ephraim and West Manasseh as far north as the territory of Zebulun, but people laughed and insulted them.
11 Only a few people from the tribes of Asher, West Manasseh, and Zebulun were humble and went to Jerusalem.
12 God also made everyone in Judah eager to do what Hezekiah and his officials had commanded.
13 In the second month, a large crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread.
14 They took all the foreign altars and incense altars in Jerusalem and threw them into Kidron Valley.
15-17 Then, on the fourteenth day of that same month, the Levites began killing the lambs for Passover, because many of the worshipers were unclean and were not allowed to kill their own lambs. Meanwhile, some of the priests and Levites felt ashamed because they had not gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean. They immediately went through that ceremony and went to the temple, where they offered sacrifices to please the Lord. Then the priests and Levites took their positions, according to the Law of Moses, the servant of God.As the Levites killed the lambs, they handed some of the blood to the priests, who splattered it on the altar.
18-19 Most of the people that came from Ephraim, West Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean, but they ignored God's Law and ate the Passover lambs anyway. Hezekiah found out what they had done and prayed, “Lord God, these people are unclean according to the laws of holiness. But they are worshiping you, just as their ancestors did. So, please be kind and forgive them.”