9. for when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”
10. The couriers traveled from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but the inhabitants laughed at them and mocked them.
11. But some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12. Also, the power of God was at work in Judah to unite them to carry out the command of the king and his officials by the word of the Lord.
13. A very large assembly of people was gathered in Jerusalem to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month.
14. They proceeded to take away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
15. They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the Lord’s temple.