2 Chronicles 35

1 And Josiah kept in Jerusalem the passover unto the Lord: and they slaughtered the passover-sacrifice on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Josiah [commanded that the people should] celebrate the Passover Festival to honor Yahweh in Jerusalem. So they slaughtered the lambs for the Passover [Festival] at the end of March.

2 And he placed the priests in their charges, and strengthened them for the service of the house of the Lord.

Josiah assigned to the priests the tasks that they should perform at the temple and encouraged them to do their work well.

3 And he said unto the Levites that instructed all Israel, who were holy unto the Lord, Set the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David the king of Israel did build; you have not to carry it any more upon your shoulders; now serve the Lord your God, and his people Israel.

The [other] descendants of Levi were the ones who taught all the Israeli people; they had been dedicated to serve Yahweh. Josiah said to them, “Put the Sacred Chest in the temple that [the workers of] David’s son [King] Solomon of Israel built. But [carry it on poles; ] do not carry it on your shoulders. And do your your work well for Yahweh your God and for his Israeli people.

4 And prepare yourselves by your family divisions, according to your courses, after the written order of David the king of Israel, and after the written order of Solomon his son;

Divide yourselves into clans, obeying the instructions that King David and his son Solomon wrote.

5 And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the family divisions of your brethren the sons of the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites;

Then stand in the temple, with one group of the descendants of Levi to help each clan of the people [when they bring their offerings to the temple].

6 And slaughter the passover-sacrifice, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare it for your brethren, to do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

Slaughter the lambs for the Passover [Festival]. Perform the rituals to cause yourselves to be acceptable to Yahweh for doing this work. Prepare the sacrifices, doing what Yahweh told Moses to tell you that you should do.”

7 And Josiah set apart for the sons of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover-sacrifices, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and of steers three thousand: these were of the king's property.

Josiah provided [from his own flocks and herds] 30,000 sheep and goats for the Passover sacrifices.

8 And his princes set apart [much] as a freewill gift for the people for the priests, and for the Levites: Chilkiyah, and Zecharyahu, and Jechiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover-sacrifices two thousand and six hundred [lambs and kids], and three hundred steers.

His officials also voluntarily contributed animals for the people and the priests and the [other] descendants of Levi. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials who were in charge of the temple, gave to the priests 2,600 lambs and 300 cattle to be sacrifices for the Passover.

9 And Conanyahu, and Shema'yahu and Nethanel, his brothers, and Chashabyahu and Je'iel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, set apart unto the Levites for passover-sacrifices five thousand [lambs and kids], and five hundred steers.

And Conaniah along with his [younger] brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the [other] descendants of Levi, provided 5,000 lambs and 500 cattle for the other descendants of Levi, to be sacrifices for the Passover.

10 So the service was established, and the priests stood on their station, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's command.

Everything [for the Passover] was arranged: The priests and the other descendants of Levi stood in their places in their groups, like the king had commanded.

11 And they slaughtered the passover-sacrifice, and the priests sprinkled [the blood received] from their hands, and the Levites did the flaying.

Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests sprinkled the blood [from the bowls] that were handed to them, while the [other] descendants of Levi removed the skins from the animals.

12 And they removed the burnt-offerings to give them to the divisions of the family divisions of the sons of the people, to offer [them] unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the steers.

They set aside the animals to be completely burned on the altar, in order to give them to the various family groups to offer to Yahweh, obeying the instructions that were written in the laws God gave Moses. They did the same thing with the cattle.

13 And they roasted the passover by the fire in accordance with the prescribed manner; but the holy offerings they seethed in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the sons of the people.

Obeying those regulations, they roasted the lambs for the Passover over the fire. And they boiled the [meat of the] sacred offerings in pots and kettles and pans, and served the meat immediately to all the people [who were there].

14 And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests; because the priests the sons of Aaron [were busied] in offering the burnt-offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

After that, they prepared meat for themselves and for the priests, because the priests were busy until nighttime, sacrificing the offerings to be completely burned and burning the fat parts of the offerings. So the [other] descendants of Levi prepared meat for themselves and for the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, [the first Supreme Priest].

15 And the singers the sons of Assaph were on their station, according to the command of David, and Assaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the gatekeepers were at every gate: they had no need to depart from their service; because their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

The musicians, who were descendants of Asaph, stood in their places, as King David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet had commanded. The men who guarded the gates [of the temple] did not need to leave their places, because their fellow descendants of Levi prepared food for them to eat.

16 So was established all the service of the Lord on the same day, to prepare the passover-sacrifice, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the command of king Josiah.

So on that day everything that needed to done for worshiping Yahweh was done. They celebrated the Passover [Festival], and they presented offerings to be completely burned on the altar, which was what Josiah had commanded.

17 And the children of Israel that were present prepared the passover-sacrifice at that time, and [kept] the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

The Israelis who were there celebrated the Passover [Festival] on that day, and for seven days they celebrated the Festival of [Eating] Unleavened Bread.

18 And there was not holden any passover like this in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; and all the kings of Israel did not keep such a passover as Josiah kept, with the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The Passover [Festival] had not been celebrated like that in Israel since the time that the prophet Samuel lived. None of the other kings of Israel had ever celebrated the Passover like Josiah did, along with the priests, the other descendants of Levi, and all [the other people of] Judah and Israel who were there with the people who lived in Jerusalem.

19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover holden.

They celebrated this Passover Festival when Josiah had been ruling for almost 18 years.

20 After all this, when Josiah had restored the temple, came up Necho the king of Egypt to fight against Karkemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.

After Josiah had done all those things to [restore the worship at] the temple, King Neco of Egypt went [with his army] to attack Carchemish [city] alongside the Euphrates [River], and Josiah marched [with his army] to fight against them.

21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war, and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God who is with me, that he may not destroy thee.

Neco sent some messengers to Josiah, to tell him, “You are the king of Judah, and there is certainly no quarrel between you and me. My army is not attacking you people; we are attacking another army, [the army of Babylonia]. God has told me to hurry. So stop opposing God, who is for me. If you do not stop, God will get rid of you.”

22 Nevertheless did Josiah not turn his face away from him, but disguised himself, to fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God; and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

But Josiah would not pay attention to him. Instead, he disguised himself in order to be able to attack [the army of Egypt without anyone recognizing him]. He did not pay any attention to what God had told Neco to say. Instead, he [and his army] went to fight Neco’s army at the plain of Megiddo.

23 And the archers shot at king Josiah: and the king said to his servants, Carry me away: for I am sorely wounded.

Some Egyptian archers shot King Josiah. He told his officers, “Take me away from here because I am badly wounded.”

24 And his servants carried him away out of that chariot, and conveyed him in the second chariot that he had: and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

So they took him out of his chariot and put him in another chariot that he had brought with him, and they took him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs where his ancestors [had been buried], and all [the people of] Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah mourned for him.

25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and they instituted them as a custom in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

[The prophet] Jeremiah composed a song to mourn for Josiah, and all the men and women singers in Israel still mourn for Josiah by singing that song. That became a custom in Israel; the words of that song are written in a scroll of funeral songs.

26 And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his pious deeds, in accordance with what is written in the law of the Lord,

A record of the other things that happened while Josiah ruled, from the time he started to rule until he died, including how he faithfully honored God by obeying everything that was written in the laws of Yahweh, is in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah’.

27 And his acts, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.