2 Chronicles 35
1 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.
Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 Josiah assigned to the priests the tasks that they should perform at the temple and encouraged them to do their work well.
He set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the LORD’s house.
3 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.
He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.
4 Divide yourselves into clans, obeying the instructions that King David and his son Solomon wrote.
Prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
5 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].
Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ house of the Levites.
6 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.”
Kill the Passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the LORD’s word by Moses.”
7 Josiah provided [from his own flocks and herds] 30,000 sheep and goats for the Passover sacrifices.
Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls. These were of the king’s substance.
8 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.
His princes gave a free will offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of God’s house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.
9 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.
Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle.
10 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.
So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king’s commandment.
11 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.
They killed the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from their hands, and the Levites skinned them.
12 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.
They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.
13 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].
They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.
14 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].
Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. Therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
15 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.
The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at every gate. They didn’t need to depart from their service, because their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
16 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.
So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the LORD’s altar, according to the commandment of King Josiah.
17 The Israelis who were there celebrated the Passover [Festival] on that day, and for seven days they celebrated the Festival of [Eating] Unleavened Bread.
The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18 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.
There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept—with the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19 They celebrated this Passover Festival when Josiah had been ruling for almost 18 years.
This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.
20 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.
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.
21 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.”
But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you today, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you.”
22 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.
Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn’t listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
23 Some Egyptian archers shot King Josiah. He told his officers, “Take me away from here because I am badly wounded.”
The archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, because I am seriously wounded!”
24 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.
So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25 [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.
Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the lamentations.
26 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’.
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the LORD’s law,
and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
