Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your fellow countrymen to carry out the word of the LORD given by Moses.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Kill the Passover, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to Yahweh’s word by Moses.”
- KJV So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
- NKJV So slaughter the Passover offerings, consecrate yourselves, and prepare them for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.”
- NASB Now slaughter the Passover animals, keep one another consecrated, and prepare for your countrymen to act in accordance with the word of the Lord by Moses.”
- NLT Slaughter the Passover lambs, purify yourselves, and prepare to help those who come. Follow all the directions that the Lord gave through Moses.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Levites are commanded to slaughter the Passover, consecrate themselves, and prepare for their fellow Israelites according to Moses' word. Holiness and obedience to Scripture govern true worship.
Overview
Josiah charges the Levites to perform their duties "according to Yahweh's word by Moses," anchoring the celebration in God's law. The call to sanctify themselves stresses that those who serve in holy things must first be made holy. This concern for both purity and scriptural fidelity marks the renewal as a return to God's appointed order of worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 2 Chr 29:5“Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity.
- Heb 9:13–14For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
- 2 Chr 29:15When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of the LORD, according to the command of the king by the words of the LORD.
- Ezra 6:20–21All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. And the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their priestly brothers, and for themselves.
- 2 Chr 30:15–19And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
- Ps 51:7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- Exod 12:6You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
- Exod 12:21–22Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb.
- Job 1:5And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
- Joel 2:16Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
- Gen 35:2So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
- Exod 19:15“Be prepared for the third day,” he said to the people. “Do not draw near to a woman.”
- Num 19:11–20Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
- 2 Chr 30:3since they had been unable to observe it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.
- Exod 19:10Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes
- 2 Chr 29:34However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.
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Temple, priesthood, and the repeated need for a faithful king who seeks the LORD all point past every imperfect reign to the King and Temple who finally and fully dwell with God's people.
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Original language
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