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.

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

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.

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;

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;

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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,

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