2 Chronicles 35

Josiah’s Passover Observance

35Josiah observed the Lord’s Passover ^xand slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. ^y2He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple. ^z3He said to the Levites who taught all Israel ^athe 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, ^bnow serve Yahweh your God and His people Israel.

⁴“Organize your ancestral houses by your divisions ^caccording to the written instruction of David king of Israel and that of his son Solomon. ^d5Serve in the holy place by the divisions of the ancestral houses for your brothers, the lay people, ^eand the distribution of the tribal household of the Levites. ^f6Slaughter the Passover lambs, ^gconsecrate yourselves, ^hand make preparations for your brothers to carry out the word of the Lord through Moses.”

⁷Then Josiah donated 30,000 sheep, lambs, and young goats, plus 3,000 bulls from his own possessions, for the Passover sacrifices for all the lay people ⁱwho 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 2,600 Passover sacrifices and 300 bulls for the priests. ⁹Conaniah ^jand his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, officers of the Levites, donated 5,000 Passover sacrifices for the Levites, plus 500 bulls.

¹⁰So the service was established; the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. ^k11Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs, and while the Levites were skinning the animals, ^lthe priests sprinkled the blood ^mthey had been given. ⁿ¹²They removed the burnt offerings so that they might be given to the divisions of the ancestral houses of the lay people ^oto offer to the Lord, according to what is written in the book of Moses; they did the same with the bulls. ¹³They roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to regulation. ^pThey boiled the holy sacrifices in pots, kettles, and bowls; and they quickly brought them to the lay people. ^q14Afterward, 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. ^rAlso, the gatekeepers were at each gate. ^sNone 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. ^t18No Passover had been observed ^ulike it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed.

Josiah’s Last Deeds and Death

²⁰After all this ^vthat Josiah had prepared for the temple, Neco king of Egypt ^wmarched up to fight at Carchemish ^xby the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him. ²¹But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, king of Judah? ^yI have not come against you today ^zbut I am fighting another dynasty. ^aGod told me to hurry. Stop opposing God who is with me; don’t make Him destroy you!”

²²But Josiah did not turn away from him; instead, in order to fight with him he disguised himself. ^bcHe did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to the Valley of Megiddo ^dto fight. ²³The archers shot King Josiah, and he said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded!” ^e24So his servants took him out of the war chariot, carried him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. Then he died, and they buried him in the tomb of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned ^ffor Josiah. ²⁵Jeremiah chanted a dirge ^gover Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women still speak of Josiah in their dirges to this very day. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Dirges.

²⁶The rest of the events ^hof Josiah’s reign, along with his deeds of faithful love according to what is written in the law of the Lord, ²⁷and his words, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.