2 Chronicles 35

1 And Josiah maketh in Jerusalem a passover to Jehovah, and they slaughter the passover-offering on the fourteenth of the first month,

Josiah held a Passover for the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was killed on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2 and he stationeth the priests over their charges, and strengtheneth them for the service of the house of Jehovah,

He assigned the priests to their respective duties and encouraged them in their ministry at the Lord's Temple.

3 and saith to the Levites — who are teaching all Israel — who are sanctified to Jehovah, 'Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David king of Israel built; it is not to you a burden on the shoulder. 'Now, serve Jehovah your God, and His people Israel,

Josiah told the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the Lord, “Place the holy Ark in the Temple built by Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. It's not necessary for you to carry it around on your shoulders any more. Your responsibility now is to serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.

4 and prepare, by the house of your fathers, according to your courses, by the writing of David king of Israel, and by the writing of Solomon his son,

Get yourselves ready for service in your divisions, by families, according to the instructions given by David, king of Israel, and his son Solomon.

5 and stand in the sanctuary, by the divisions of the house of the fathers of your brethren, sons of the people, and the portion of the house of a father of the Levites,

Then you are to stand in the sanctuary to assist the lay people according to family divisions, following the assignments according to your Levite family divisions.

6 and slaughter the passover-offering and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of Jehovah by the hand of Moses.'

Sacrifice the Passover lambs, purify yourselves, and be ready to help the people who come to fulfill the requirements given by the Lord through Moses.”

7 And Josiah lifteth up to the sons of the people a flock of lambs and young goats, the whole for passover-offerings, for every one who is found, to the number of thirty thousand, and oxen three thousand: these [are] from the substance of the king.

Josiah contributed as Passover offerings for all the people who were present 30,000 lambs and goats, and 3,000 bulls, all from his own flocks and herds.

8 And his heads, for a willing-offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites, have lifted up; Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, leaders in the house of God, to the priests have given for passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred, and oxen three hundred;

His officials contributed freely to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, who were in charge of God's Temple, gave the priests as Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls.

9 and Conaniah, and Shemaiah, and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, heads of the Levites, have lifted up to the Levites, for passover-offerings, five thousand, and oxen five hundred.

The leaders of the Levites, Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, gave the Levites as Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

10 And the service is prepared, and the priests stand on their station, and the Levites on their courses, according to the command of the king,

Once the preparations had been completed, the priests stood where they had been assigned and the Levites took their places in their divisions as the king had ordered.

11 and they slaughter the passover-offering, and the priests sprinkle out of their hand, and the Levites are striping;

They killed the Passover lambs, the priests sprinkled the blood they were given on the altar, while the Levites skinned the sacrifices.

12 and they turn aside the burnt-offering, to put them by the divisions of the house of the fathers of the sons of the people, to bring near to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses — and so to the oxen.

They put to one side the burnt offerings to be given to the families of the lay people, by division, to offer to the Lord, as required in the Book of Moses. They did the same thing with the bulls.

13 And they cook the passover with fire, according to the ordinance, and the sanctified things they have cooked in pots, and in kettles, and in pans — for all the sons of the people.

They roasted the Passover sacrifices on the fire as requires, and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons, and pans, and took them quickly to the lay people.

14 And afterward they have prepared for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests, sons of Aaron, [are] in the offering up of the burnt-offering and of the fat till night; and the Levites have prepared for themselves, and for the priests, sons of Aaron.

After that they prepared food from the offerings for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy presenting burnt offerings and fat until night came. So the Levites did this work for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

15 And the singers, sons of Asaph, [are] on their station, according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun seer of the king, and the gate keepers [are] at gate and gate; it is not for them to turn aside from off their service, for their brethren the Levites have prepared for them.

The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were in their places following the instructions given by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's seer. The gatekeepers in charge at each gate did not need to leave, because their fellow Levites provided for them.

16 And all the service of Jehovah is prepared on that day, to keep the passover, and to cause to ascend burnt-offering upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the command of king Josiah.

So on that day the whole Passover service of the Lord was took place, including the presenting of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered.

17 And the sons of Israel who are found make the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened things, seven days.

The Israelites who were there also celebrated Passover at that time, and also the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the following seven days.

18 And there hath not been made a passover like it in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, and none of the kings of Israel made such a passover as Josiah hath made, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who are found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

No Passover like this had been held in Israel since the time of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had ever held a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all of Judah, the Israelites who were there, and the people of Jerusalem.

19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah hath this passover been made.

This Passover was observed in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

20 After all this, when Josiah hath prepared the house, come up hath Necho king of Egypt, to fight against Carchemish by Phrat, and Josiah goeth forth to meet him;

After all this work that Josiah had carried out in restoring the Temple, King Neco of Egypt was leading his army to fight at Carchemish near the Euphrates, and Josiah went to confront him.

21 and he sendeth unto him messengers, saying, 'What — to me and to thee, O king of Judah? not against thee do I come to-day, but unto the house with which I have war, and God said to haste me; cease for thee from God who [is] with me, and He doth not destroy thee.'

Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What argument is there between you and me, king of Judah? I have not come to attack you today, because I'm fighting with another kingdom. God told me I should hurry, so stop obstructing God, who is with me, or he'll destroy you!”

22 And Josiah hath not turned round his face from him, but to fight against him hath disguised himself, and hath not hearkened unto the words of Necho, from the mouth of God, and cometh in to fight in the valley of Megiddo;

But Josiah did not turn away and leave. Instead, he disguised himself so he could fight Neco in battle. He ignored Neco's message that came from God, and went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo.

23 and the archers shoot at king Josiah, and the king saith to his servants, 'Remove me, for I have become very sick.'

There archers shot King Josiah. He called out those beside him, “Get me out of the battle, because I'm badly wounded!”

24 And his servants remove him from the chariot, and cause him to ride on the second chariot that he hath, and cause him to go to Jerusalem, and he dieth, and is buried in the graves of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem are mourning for Josiah,

So they carried him out of his chariot, and took him back in his second chariot to Jerusalem, where he died. Josiah was buried in the tomb of his forefathers. All Judah and Jerusalem wept for him.

25 and Jeremiah lamenteth for Josiah, and all the singers and the songstresses speak in their lamentations of Josiah unto this day, and set them for a statute on Israel, and lo, they are written beside the lamentations.

Then Jeremiah wrote a lament over Josiah, and to this day male and female choirs sing sad songs about Josiah. They have become a part of what is regularly sung in Israel, and they are recorded in the Book of Laments.

26 And the rest of the matters of Josiah, and his kind acts, according as it is written in the law of Jehovah,

The rest of what Josiah did, along with his acts of loyalty following what is written in the Law of the Lord,

27 even his matters, the first and the last, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

all his actions, from beginning to end, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.