2 Chronicles 35

Josiah Celebrates Passover

1Josiah made a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2He appointed the priests to their duties and strengthened them for the service of the house of the LORD. 3He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. You need not carry it upon your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. 4Prepare yourselves according to your ancestral houses, according to your divisions, by the writing of David king of Israel and by the writing of Solomon his son. 5Stand in the Holy Place according to the divisions of the ancestral houses of your brothers, the people, and according to the division of a Levitical ancestral house. 6Slaughter the Passover, consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.”

Josiah and the Officials Provide Offerings

7Josiah contributed to the people from the flock lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings for everyone who were present, thirty thousand in number, and three thousand cattle. These were from the king’s possessions. 8His officials also contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for Passover offerings two thousand six hundred and three hundred cattle. 9Conaniah and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, rulers of the Levites, contributed to the Levites five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred cattle.

The Passover Is Prepared

10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood at their station and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 11They slaughtered the Passover, and the priests threw the blood received from their hand, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12They removed the burnt offerings to give them according to the divisions of the ancestral houses of the people, to offer to the LORD, as written in the book of Moses. And so with the cattle. 13They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, cauldrons, and pans and quickly brought them to all the people. 14Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. So the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15The singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their station according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer, and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to leave their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them. 16So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day to make the Passover and offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. 17The children of Israel who were present made the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days.

No Passover Like It since Samuel

18No Passover like it had been made in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, and none of the kings of Israel had made a Passover like what Josiah made, with the priests, Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign this Passover was made.

Josiah Goes against Pharaoh Neco

20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the house, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21Yet Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day but against the house with which I am at war, and God has commanded me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, so that he does not destroy you.” 22Yet Josiah did not turn his face from him. Instead he disguised himself to fight with him and did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God. He came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.

Josiah Dies

23The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded.” 24His servants removed him from the chariot, put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem. He died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the male and female singers spoke about Josiah in their laments to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel. Look, they are written in the Laments. 26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his steadfast deeds, according to what is written in the instruction of the LORD, 27and his acts, first and last, look, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.