2 Chronicles 35:1–17

JOSIAH’S PASSOVER OBSERVANCE

35Josiah observed the Lord’s Passover^e and slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.^{f 2}He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple.^{g 3}He said to the Levites who taught all Israel^h the holy things of the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. Since you do not have to carry it on your shoulders,ⁱ now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.

⁴“Organize your ancestral families^B by your divisions^j according to the written instruction of King David of Israel and that of his son Solomon.^{k 5}Serve in the holy place by the groupings of the ancestral families^C for your brothers, the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by family.^{l 6}Slaughter the Passover lambs,^m consecrate yourselves,ⁿ and make preparations for your brothers to carry out the word of the Lord through Moses.”

⁷Then Josiah donated thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and young goats, plus three thousand cattle from his own possessions, for the Passover sacrifices for all the lay people who were present.

⁸His officials also donated willingly for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officials of God’s temple, gave twenty-six hundred Passover sacrifices and three hundred cattle for the priests. ⁹Conaniah^o and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, officers of the Levites, donated five thousand Passover sacrifices for the Levites, plus five hundred cattle.

¹⁰So the service was established; the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command.^{p 11}Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs, and while the Levites were skinning the animals,^q the priests splattered the blood^E they had been given.^{F 12}They removed the burnt offerings so that they might be given to the groupings of the ancestral families^G of the lay people to offer to the Lord, according to what is written in the book of Moses; they did the same with the cattle. ¹³They roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to regulation.^r They boiled the holy sacrifices in pots, kettles, and bowls; and they quickly brought them to the lay people. ¹⁴Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy offering up burnt offerings and fat until night. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

¹⁵The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer.^s Also, the gatekeepers were at each temple gate.^t None of them left their tasks because their Levite brothers had made preparations for them.

¹⁶So all the service of the Lord was established that day for observing the Passover and for offering burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. ¹⁷The Israelites who were present in Judah also observed the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.^u