2 Chronicles 35:1–17

King Josiah Celebrates the Passover—2 Kings 23:21–23

¹Josiah celebrated the Passover for the Lord in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²Josiah appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple. ³He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel and performed ceremonies to make themselves holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon, son of David and king of Israel, built. It shouldn’t be carried on your shoulders any longer. Serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. ⁴Get yourselves ready with the family groups of your divisions, which are listed in the records of King David of Israel and the records of his son Solomon. ⁵Stand in the holy place representing the family divisions of your relatives, the people ⸤of Israel⸥. Let the Levites be considered a part of each family.⁶Slaughter the Passover lamb, perform the ceremonies to make yourselves holy, and prepare ⸤the lambs⸥ for the other Israelites as the Lord instructed ⸤us⸥ through Moses.” 

⁷Josiah provided the people with 33,000 sheep and goats to be sacrificed as Passover offerings for all who were present. In addition, he provided 3,000 bulls. (These animals were the king’s property.) ⁸His officials also voluntarily gave animals to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the men in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests 2,600 sheep and goats and 300 bulls for Passover sacrifices. ⁹Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites 5,000 sheep and goats and 500 bulls as Passover sacrifices. 

¹⁰So the service was prepared. The priests took their positions with the Levites according to their divisions, as the king had ordered. ¹¹They slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests sprinkled the blood with their hands while the Levites skinned the lambs. ¹²They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the laypeople according to their family divisions. The laypeople could then present them to the Lord as written in the Book of Moses. The Levites did the same with the bulls. ¹³They roasted the Passover lambs according to the directions. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans and immediately served them to all the people. ¹⁴Later, they prepared ⸤the animals⸥ for themselves and for the priests because the priests (Aaron’s descendants) were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat until that evening. 

So the Levites prepared ⸤the animals⸥ for themselves and the priests. ¹⁵The singers (Asaph’s descendants) were in their places as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king’s seer^bJeduthun had commanded. The gatekeepers were stationed at each gate. They didn’t need to leave their work, because their relatives, the Levites, prepared ⸤animals⸥ for them. 

¹⁶So everything was arranged that day for the worship of the Lord. The Passover was celebrated, and the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the Lord’s altar as King Josiah had commanded. ¹⁷The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time. They also celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.