2 Chronicles 35

1 Moreover Josiah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover 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 set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to 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 said to the Levites that 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 shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now 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 the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing 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 families of the fathers of your brethren 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 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.

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 gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand cattle: these were of the king’s substance.

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

8 And his princes gave willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.

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 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave to the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

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 prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king’s commandment.

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 killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.

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, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

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 with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings they boiled in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all 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 afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering 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 Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for 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 all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment 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 kept the passover at that time, and 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 no passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and 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 kept.

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

20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by 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 with which I have war: for God 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 Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and 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, Take me away; for I am grievously wounded.

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

24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of 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 have spoken of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance 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 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was 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 deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.