2 Chronicles 35

The Passover Observed Again

1Then Josiah 1celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and 2they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2He set the priests in their offices and 3encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3He also said to 4the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; 5it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. 46Prepare yourselves by your fathers’ households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and 7according to the writing of his son Solomon. 5Moreover, 8stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your brethren the 9lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household. 6Now 10slaughter the Passover animals, 11sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.”

7Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering 30,000 plus 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. 8His officers also contributed a freewill offering to the people, the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, 12the officials of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 from the flocks and 300 bulls. 913Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 from the flocks and 500 bulls.

10So the service was prepared, and 14the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 111516They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while 17the priests sprinkled 18the blood received from their hand, 19the Levites skinned them. 12Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls. 13So 20they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled 21the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people. 14Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their stations 22according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and 23the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service, because the Levites their brethren prepared for them.

16So all the service of the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah. 17Thus 24the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 1825There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign this Passover was celebrated.

Josiah Dies in Battle

2026After all this, when Josiah had set the 27temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at 28Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. 21But 29Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “30What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.” 22However, Josiah would not turn 31away from him, but 32disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco 33from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of 34Megiddo. 23The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem 35where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. 36All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25Then 37Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations. 26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of the Lord, 27and his acts, first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.