2 Chronicles 30:21

THE MESSAGE

All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated the Passover (Feast of Unraised Bread) for seven days, celebrated exuberantly. The Levites and priests praised God day after day, filling the air with praise sounds of percussion and brass. Hezekiah commended the Levites for the superb way in which they had led the people in the worship of God . When the feast and festival—that glorious seven days of worship, the making of offerings, and the praising of God , the God of their ancestors—were over, the tables cleared and the floors swept, they all decided to keep going for another seven days! So they just kept on celebrating, and as joyfully as they began. Hezekiah king of Judah gave one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the congregation's worship; the officials gave an additional one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And there turned out to be plenty of consecrated priests—qualified and well-prepared. The whole congregation of Judah, the priests and Levites, the congregation that came in from Israel, and the resident aliens from both Israel and Judah, were all in on the joyous celebration. Jerusalem was bursting with joy—nothing like this had taken place in Jerusalem since Solomon son of David king of Israel had built and dedicated The Temple. The priests and Levites had the last word: they stood and blessed the people. And God listened, listened as the ascending sound of their prayers entered his holy heaven.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day after day with loud instruments.

Hebrew Names Version
The children of Yisra'el who were present at Yerushalayim kept the feast of matzah seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the Kohanim praised the LORD day by day, [singing] with loud instruments to the LORD.

King James Version
And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord .

English Standard Version
And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the Lord .

New Century Version
The Israelites in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy to the Lord . The Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with loud music.

New English Translation
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.

Amplified Bible
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the LORD day after day, singing to the LORD with loud instruments.

New American Standard Bible
The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests were praising the LORD day after day with loud instruments to the LORD.

World English Bible
The children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh day by day, [singing] with loud instruments to Yahweh.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the children of Israel that were present at Ierusalem, kept the feast of the vnleauened bread seuen dayes with great ioye, and the Leuites, and the Priestes praysed the Lorde, day by day, singing with loude instruments vnto the Lorde.

Legacy Standard Bible
And the sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh day after day with loud instruments to Yahweh.

Berean Standard Bible
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised the LORD day after day accompanied by loud instruments to the LORD.

Contemporary English Version
The worshipers in Jerusalem were very happy and celebrated the Festival for seven days. The Levites and priests sang praises to the Lord every day and played their instruments.

Complete Jewish Bible
The people of Isra'el there in Yerushalayim observed the festival of Matzot for seven days with great joy; while every day the L'vi'im and cohanim praised Adonai , singing to Adonai with the accompaniment of loud instruments.

Darby Translation
And the children of Israel, that were present at Jerusalem, held the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, with the instruments of praise to Jehovah.

Easy-to-Read Version
The people of Israel in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy for seven days. And the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with all their strength.

George Lamsa Translation
And the children of Israel that were present in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing songs of praise.

Good News Translation
For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the Lord with all their strength.

Lexham English Bible
And the Israelites who were found in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy. And the Levites and the priests were offering praise to Yahweh day by day, with powerful instruments to Yahweh.

Literal Translation
And the sons of Israel, those found in Jerusalem, kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy. And the Levites praised Jehovah day to day, and the priests, with instruments of praise before Jehovah.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus the children of Israel that were founde at Ierusale, helde ye feast of vnleuended bred seuen dayes with greate ioye. And the Leuites and prestes praysed the LORDE euery daye with the loude instrumentes of the LORDE.

American Standard Version
And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, singing with loud instruments unto Jehovah.

Bible in Basic English
So the children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great joy: and the Levites and the priests gave praise to the Lord day by day, making melody to the Lord with loud instruments.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the children of Israel that were present at Hierusalem, held the feast of sweete bread seuen dayes, with great gladnes: and the Leuites & the priestes praysed the Lorde day by day, singing with loude instrumentes vnto the lord.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the LORD.

King James Version (1611)
And the children of Israel that were present at Ierusalem, kept the feast of vnleauened bread seuen dayes with great gladnesse: and the Leuites and the Priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with lowd instruments vnto the Lord.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy; and they continued to sing hymns to the Lord daily, and the priests and the Levites played on instruments to the Lord.

English Revised Version
And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, [singing] with loud instruments unto the LORD.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the sones of Israel, that weren founden in Jerusalem, maden solempnyte of therf looues seuene daies in greet gladnesse, and herieden the Lord bi ech dai; and dekenes and preestis `preisiden the Lord bi orguns, that acordiden to her offices.

Update Bible Version
And the sons of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh day by day, [singing] with loud instruments to Yahweh.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the children of Israel [that were] present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, [singing] with loud instruments to the LORD.

New King James Version
So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing to the LORD, accompanied by loud instruments.

New Living Translation
So the people of Israel who were present in Jerusalem joyously celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. Each day the Levites and priests sang to the Lord , accompanied by loud instruments.

New Life Bible
The people of Israel who were there in Jerusalem kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days with great joy. The Levites and the religious leaders praised the Lord day after day, singing with loud music to the Lord.

New Revised Standard
The people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the festival of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, accompanied by loud instruments for the Lord .

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And so the sons of Israel who were found in Jerusalem kept the festival of unleavened cakes seven days, with great rejoicing, - and the Levites and the priests, were offering praise unto Yahweh day by day, with loud instruments, unto Yahweh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the children of Israel, that were found at Jerusalem, kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy, praising the Lord every day. the Levites also, and the priests, with instruments that agreed to their office.

Revised Standard Version
And the people of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with all their might to the LORD.

Young's Literal Translation
And the sons of Israel, those found in Jerusalem, make the feast of unleavened things seven days with great joy; and giving praise to Jehovah day by day are the Levites and the priests, with instruments of praise before Jehovah.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day after day with loud instruments to the LORD.

Contextual Overview

²¹All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated the Passover (Feast of Unraised Bread) for seven days, celebrated exuberantly. The Levites and priests praised God day after day, filling the air with praise sounds of percussion and brass. Hezekiah commended the Levites for the superb way in which they had led the people in the worship of God . When the feast and festival—that glorious seven days of worship, the making of offerings, and the praising of God , the God of their ancestors—were over, the tables cleared and the floors swept, they all decided to keep going for another seven days! So they just kept on celebrating, and as joyfully as they began. Hezekiah king of Judah gave one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the congregation's worship; the officials gave an additional one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And there turned out to be plenty of consecrated priests—qualified and well-prepared. The whole congregation of Judah, the priests and Levites, the congregation that came in from Israel, and the resident aliens from both Israel and Judah, were all in on the joyous celebration. Jerusalem was bursting with joy—nothing like this had taken place in Jerusalem since Solomon son of David king of Israel had built and dedicated The Temple. The priests and Levites had the last word: they stood and blessed the people. And God listened, listened as the ascending sound of their prayers entered his holy heaven. ²³ Then Hezekiah invited all of Israel and Judah, with personal letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to The Temple of God in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to Israel's God. The king and his officials and the congregation in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate Passover in the second month. They hadn't been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough of the priests were yet personally prepared and the people hadn't had time to gather in Jerusalem. Under these circumstances, the revised date was approved by both king and people and they sent out the invitation from one end of the country to the other, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north: "Come and celebrate the Passover to Israel's God in Jerusalem." No one living had ever celebrated it properly. The king gave the orders, and the couriers delivered the invitations from the king and his leaders throughout Israel and Judah. The invitation read: "O Israelites! Come back to God , the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he can return to you who have survived the predations of the kings of Assyria. Don't repeat the sins of your ancestors who turned their backs on God , the God of their ancestors who then brought them to ruin—you can see the ruins all around you. Don't be pigheaded as your ancestors were. Clasp God 's outstretched hand. Come to his Temple of holy worship, consecrated for all time. Serve God , your God. You'll no longer be in danger of his hot anger. If you come back to God , your captive relatives and children will be treated compassionately and allowed to come home. Your God is gracious and kind and won't snub you—come back and he'll welcome you with open arms." So the couriers set out, going from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far north as Zebulun. But the people poked fun at them, treated them as a joke. But not all; some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun weren't too proud to accept the invitation and come to Jerusalem. It was better in Judah—God worked powerfully among them to make it unanimous, responding to the orders sent out by the king and his officials, orders backed up by the word of God . It turned out that there was a tremendous crowd of people when the time came in the second month to celebrate the Passover (sometimes called the Feast of Unraised Bread). First they went to work and got rid of all the pagan altars that were in Jerusalem—hauled them off and dumped them in the Kidron Valley. Then, on the fourteenth day of the second month, they slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests and Levites weren't ready; but now, embarrassed in their laziness, they consecrated themselves and brought Whole-Burnt-Offerings to The Temple of God . Ready now, they stood at their posts as designated by The Revelation of Moses the holy man; the priests sprinkled the blood the Levites handed to them. Because so many in the congregation had not properly prepared themselves by consecration and so were not qualified, the Levites took charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs so that they would be properly consecrated to God . There were a lot of people, especially those from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, who did not eat the Passover meal because they had not prepared themselves adequately. Hezekiah prayed for these as follows: "May God who is all good, pardon and forgive everyone who sincerely desires God , the God of our ancestors. Even—especially!—these who do not meet the literal conditions stated for access to The Temple." God responded to Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people. All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated the Passover (Feast of Unraised Bread) for seven days, celebrated exuberantly. The Levites and priests praised God day after day, filling the air with praise sounds of percussion and brass. Hezekiah commended the Levites for the superb way in which they had led the people in the worship of God . When the feast and festival—that glorious seven days of worship, the making of offerings, and the praising of God , the God of their ancestors—were over, the tables cleared and the floors swept, they all decided to keep going for another seven days! So they just kept on celebrating, and as joyfully as they began. ²⁴Hezekiah king of Judah gave one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the congregation's worship; the officials gave an additional one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And there turned out to be plenty of consecrated priests—qualified and well-prepared. The whole congregation of Judah, the priests and Levites, the congregation that came in from Israel, and the resident aliens from both Israel and Judah, were all in on the joyous celebration. Jerusalem was bursting with joy—nothing like this had taken place in Jerusalem since Solomon son of David king of Israel had built and dedicated The Temple. ²⁷ The priests and Levites had the last word: they stood and blessed the people. And God listened, listened as the ascending sound of their prayers entered his holy heaven.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

present: Heb. found

the feast: Exodus 12:15, Exodus 13:6, Leviticus 23:6, Luke 22:1, Luke 22:7, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 5:8

great gladness: 2 Chronicles 30:26, 2 Chronicles 7:10, Deuteronomy 12:7, Deuteronomy 12:12, Deuteronomy 16:14, Nehemiah 8:10, Acts 2:46, Philippians 4:4

the priests: 2 Chronicles 20:21, 2 Chronicles 29:25-27

loud instruments: Heb. instruments of strength, Psalms 150:3-5

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 30:11 - divers of Asher 2 Chronicles 35:17 - the feast Ezra 6:22 - the feast Nehemiah 8:17 - there was Esther 1:5 - seven days Psalms 27:6 - therefore Ezekiel 36:38 - as the flock Malachi 3:4 - as Luke 2:43 - General John 18:28 - eat

Cross-References

Genesis 30:1
When Rachel realized that she wasn't having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, "Give me sons or I'll die!"

Genesis 30:3
Rachel said, "Here's my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her. Let her substitute for me so I can have a child through her and build a family." So she gave him her maid Bilhah for a wife and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.

Genesis 46:15
These are the sons that Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram. There was also his daughter Dinah. Altogether, sons and daughters, they numbered thirty-three.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness,.... Which, according to the law of Moses, were always to follow the passover, Exodus 12:18

and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord; or instruments of strength t; so called not from the matter of them, or manner in which they were made, but either from the sound of them, as our version, or from the strength and power of God, which they set forth in praise; the Targum is,

"with instruments of praise,''

and so the word is sometimes used, see Psalms 8:2 compared with

Matthew 21:16, the priests blew with trumpets, and the Levites played on harps, psalteries, &c. and this they did every day when the sacrifices were offered, during the seven days of unleavened bread.

t בכלי עז "cum instrumentis fortitudinis", Vatablus.