7 Then Josiah provided for the ⌊lay people⌋h sheep, lambs, and young goats, all for the Passover for all who were found there, to the sum of thirty thousand, along with three thousand bulls. These were the possession of the king. 8 And his officials contributed a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, commanders of the house of God, gave to the priests two thousand six hundred Passover lambs and three hundred bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jehozabad, commanders of the Levites, contributed to the Levites five thousand Passover lambs and five hundred bulls.

10 And when the work had been completed, the priests stood at their positions and the Levites in their working groups according to the command of the king. 11 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed the sacrifices. 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the clans of the ⌊families⌋i for the ⌊lay people⌋,j to offer to Yahweh according to what is written in the scroll of Moses. And thus they did with the bulls. 13 Then they roasted the Passover lamb in the fire according to the ordinance. And they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in kettles, and in dishes and brought it quickly to all the ⌊lay people⌋.k 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the descendantsl of Aaron, were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. So the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the descendantsm of Aaron. 15 And the singers, the descendantsn of Asaph, were at their stations according to the decreeo of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the seer of the king. And the gatekeepers were at ⌊each gate⌋.p They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites had made preparations for them.

16 So all the service of Yahweh was prepared on that day to keepq the Passover and to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar of Yahweh, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the Israelites who were present keptr the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 And there was no Passover like it kepts in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. And none of the kings of Israel keptt a Passover like that which Josiah and the priests and the Levites, and all of Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, kept.u 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.v

The Death of Josiah

20 After all of this that Josiah had prepared for the temple,w Neco the king of Egypt went up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went up to meet him. 21 And hex sent messengers to him, saying, “⌊What is there between us⌋,y O king of Judah? I am not against you yourself this day, but against the house making war against me. And God has commanded me to make haste. Stop opposing God, who is with me that he will not destroy you.” 22 But Josiah did not turn his face from him, but he disguised himself to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and he went out to fight in the plain of Megiddo. 23 And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and transported him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the burial sites of his ancestors.z And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned over Josiah. 25 And Jeremiah uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken in their laments about Josiah to this day. And they made them a requirement in Israel, and behold, they are written in the laments.

26 Now the remainder of the words of Josiah and his loyal love for what is written in the law of Yahweh 27 and his words, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.

The Decline of Judah

36 And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz ⌊was twenty-three years old⌋a when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid a tribute upon the land of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim ⌊was twenty-five years old⌋b when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon went up against him, and he bound him with bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon. 7 And Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon the objects of the house of Yahweh and put them into the temple in Babylon. 8 Now the remainder of the words of Jehoiakim and the detestable things that he did and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

9 Jehoiachin ⌊was eighteenc years old⌋d when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. 10 And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with objects of the treasure of the house of Yahweh. And he made Zedekiah his brother king in Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah ⌊was twenty-one years old⌋e when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet ⌊who spoke for⌋f Yahweh. 13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 14 All the leaders of the priests and the people likewise increased in unfaithfulness according to all the detestable things of the nations. And they polluted the house of Yahweh that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

15 And Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,g had repeatedly and persistently sent to them by the hand of his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy.

The Destruction of Jerusalem

17 Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He showed no mercy on a young man, a virgin, the elderly, or decrepit. He delivered all into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, the storehouses of the house of Yahweh, and the storehouses of the king and his princes, these all he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burned the house of God. And they shattered the walls of Jerusalem and burned all its citadels with fire and destroyed all the vessels of its treasuries.