30:1 Hezekiah sent messages throughout Israel and Judah; he even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, summoning them to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem 1 and observe a Passover celebration for the Lord God of Israel. 30:2 The king, his officials, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem decided to observe the Passover in the second month. 30:3 They were unable to observe it at the regular 2 time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem. 30:4 The proposal seemed appropriate to 3 the king and the entire assembly. 30:5 So they sent an edict 4 throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people 5 to come and observe a Passover for the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law. 6 30:6 Messengers 7 delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah.
This royal edict read: 8 “O Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return 9 to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria. 10 30:7 Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their ancestors, 11 provoking him to destroy them, 12 as you can see. 30:8 Now, don’t be stubborn 13 like your fathers! Submit 14 to the Lord and come to his sanctuary which he has permanently consecrated. Serve the Lord your God so that he might relent from his raging anger. 15 30:9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will be shown mercy by their captors and return to this land. The Lord your God is merciful and compassionate; he will not reject you 16 if you return to him.”
30:10 The messengers journeyed from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but people mocked and ridiculed them. 17 30:11 But some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 30:12 In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. 18 30:13 A huge crowd assembled in Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. 19 30:14 They removed the altars in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley. 20
30:15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord’s temple. 30:16 They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. 21 30:17 Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered 22 the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. 23 30:18 The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. 24 For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive 25 30:19 everyone who has determined to follow God, 26 the Lord God of his ancestors, even if he is not ceremonially clean according to the standards of the temple.” 27 30:20 The Lord responded favorably 28 to Hezekiah and forgave 29 the people.
30:21 The Israelites who were in Jerusalem observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests were praising the Lord every day with all their might. 30 30:22 Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites, 31 who demonstrated great skill in serving the Lord. 32 They feasted for the seven days of the festival, 33 and were making peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors.
30:23 The entire assembly then decided to celebrate for seven more days; so they joyfully celebrated for seven more days. 30:24 King Hezekiah of Judah supplied 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep 34 for the assembly, while the officials supplied them 35 with 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. Many priests consecrated themselves. 30:25 The celebration included 36 the entire assembly of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the entire assembly of those who came from Israel, the resident foreigners who came from the land of Israel, and the residents of Judah. 30:26 There was a great celebration in Jerusalem, unlike anything that had occurred in Jerusalem since the time of King Solomon son of David of Israel. 37 30:27 The priests and Levites got up and pronounced blessings on the people. The Lord responded favorably to them 38 as their prayers reached his holy dwelling place in heaven.
1 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
2 tn Heb “at that time.”
3 tn Heb “and the thing was proper in the eyes of.”
4 tn Heb “and they caused to stand a word to cause a voice to pass through.”
5 tn The words “summoning the people” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “because not for abundance had they done as written.”
7 tn Heb “the runners.”
8 tn Heb “and according to the command of the king, saying.”
9 tn The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
10 tn Heb “to the survivors who are left to you from the palm of the kings of Assyria.”
11 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 19, 22).
12 tn Heb “and he made them a devastation” (or, perhaps, “an object of horror”).
13 tn Heb “don’t stiffen your neck” (a Hebrew idiom for being stubborn).
14 tn Heb “give a hand.” On the meaning of the idiom here, see HALOT 387 s.v. I יָד 2.
15 tn Heb “so that the rage of his anger might turn from you.” The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
16 tn Heb “turn [his] face from you.”
17 tn Heb “and they were mocking them and ridiculing them.”
18 tn Heb “also in Judah the hand of God was to give to them one heart to do the command of the king and the officials by the word of the
19 tn The Hebrew text adds here, “a very large assembly.” This has not been translated to avoid redundancy with the expression “a huge crowd” at the beginning of the verse.
20 tn Heb “and they arose and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem, and all the incense altars they removed and threw into the Kidron Valley.”
21 tn Heb “from the hand of the Levites.”
22 tn Heb “were over the slaughter of.”
23 tn Heb “of everyone not pure to consecrate to the
24 tn Heb “without what is written.”
25 tn Heb “make atonement for.”
26 tn Heb “everyone [who] has prepared his heart to seek God.”
27 tn Heb “and not according to the purification of the holy place.”
28 tn Heb “listened.”
29 tn Heb “healed.”
30 tn Heb “and they were praising the
31 tn Heb “and Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites.” On the meaning of the idiom “speak to the heart of” here, see HALOT 210 s.v. II דבר 8.d.
32 tn Heb “who demonstrated skill [with] good skill for the
33 tn Heb “and they ate [during] the appointed time [for] seven days.” מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “appointed time”) is probably an adverbial accusative of time referring to the festival. However, some understand it as metonymically referring to the food eaten during the festival. See BDB 417 s.v.
34 tn The Hebrew term צֹאן (ts’on, translated “sheep” twice in this verse) denotes smaller livestock in general; depending on context it can refer to sheep only or goats only, but their is nothing in the immediate context here to specify one or the other.
35 tn Heb “the assembly.” The pronoun “them” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
36 tn Heb “they rejoiced.”
37 tn Heb “and there was great joy in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.”
38 tn Heb “and it was heard with their voice.” BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Niph.4 interprets this to mean “hearing was granted to their voice.” It is possible that the name יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the
39 tn Grk “do not be persuaded by them.” The passive construction μὴ πεισθῇς αὐτοῖς (mh peisqh" autoi") has been converted to an active construction in the translation, and the phrase “to do this” supplied to indicate more clearly the object of their persuasion.
40 tn Grk “forty men of them.” In the expression ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρες (ex autwn andre") “men” is somewhat redundant and has not been included in the English translation.
41 tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.
42 tn Grk “for him, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“they”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.
43 tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone… ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.”
44 tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
45 tn Grk “waiting for your approval,” “waiting for your agreement.” Since it would be possible to misunderstand the literal translation “waiting for your approval” to mean that the Jews were waiting for the commander’s approval to carry out their plot or to kill Paul (as if he were to be an accomplice to their plot), the object of the commander’s approval (their request to bring Paul to the council) has been specified in the translation as “their request.”
46 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.
47 tn BDAG 760 s.v. παραγγέλλω has “to make an announcement about someth. that must be done, give orders, command, instruct, direct of all kinds of persons in authority, worldly rulers, Jesus, the apostles…παραγγέλλειν w. an inf. and μή comes to mean forbid to do someth.: π. τινί w. aor. inf. Lk 5:14; 8:56; without the dat., which is easily supplied fr. the context Ac 23:22.” However, if the direct discourse which follows is to be retained in the translation, a different translation must be used since it is awkward to introduce direct discourse with the verb to forbid. Thus the alternative to direct was used.
48 tn On this verb, see BDAG 325-26 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 2. The term was frequently used of an official report to authorities. In modern terms, this was a police tip.
49 tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to the reported ambush, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.
50 tn Grk “summoning…he said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
51 sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.
52 sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. This was a journey of about 65 mi (just over 100 km).
map For location see Map2 C1; Map4 B3; Map5 F2; Map7 A1; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
53 tn Or “cavalrymen.”
54 tn A military technical term of uncertain meaning. BDAG 217 s.v. δεξιολάβος states, “a word of uncertain mng., military t.t., acc. to Joannes Lydus…and Theophyl. Sim., Hist. 4, 1 a light-armed soldier, perh. bowman, slinger; acc. to a scholion in CMatthaei p. 342 body-guard….Spearman Goodspd., NRSV; ‘security officer’, GDKilpatrick, JTS 14, ’63, 393f.”
sn Two hundred soldiers…along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen. The resulting force assembled to guard Paul was almost a full cohort. The Roman commander was taking no chances, but was sending the issue up the chain of command to the procurator to decide.
55 tn Grk “from.”
56 tn Grk “from the third hour of the night.”