Josiah Keeps Passover
2 Chronicles 35, verse 1. Now Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord his God in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 2. He established the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service of the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 3. Then he said to the Levites who had power in all Israel, to sanctify themselves for the Lord. And they put the holy ark in the house built by Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. And the king said, “It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 4. Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses, by your divisions, following the written instruction of David king of Israel and the written instruction of Solomon his son. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 5. And stand in the house according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brethren, the sons of the people, and according to the division of the father's house of the Levites. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 6. Slaughter the Passover and prepare the holy things for your brethren so they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.” 2 Chronicles 35, verse 7. Then Josiah began the sacrifice for the sons of the people, with sheep and lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of thirty thousand, as well as three thousand calves for all the Passover offerings, for all who were present. These were from the king's possessions. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 8. And the leaders began the offering for the people and the priests and the Levites, rulers of the house of God. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel gave the priests two thousand six hundred sheep and lambs and goats from the flock for the Passover offerings, and three hundred calves. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 9. Conaniah and Banaiah and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brother, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, leaders of the Levites, began the offering for the Levites with five thousand sheep and five hundred calves for the Passover offerings. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 10. So the service was prepared. And the priests stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 11. And they slaughtered the Passover offerings. The priests sprinkled the blood with their hands, while the Levites skinned the animals. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 12. Then they prepared the burnt offerings to give it to them by the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the sons of the people, to offer to the Lord as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did in the morning. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 13. They roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the ordinance. But they boiled the other holy offerings in bronze pots and in pans. And it went well, and they divided them quickly among all the sons of the people. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 14. Afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, because the priests were busy offering burnt offerings and fat until night. Therefore the Levites prepared portions for themselves and their brethren, the sons of Aaron. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 15. And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places according to the command of David. Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's prophets and the gatekeepers, were at each gate. They did not have to leave their service of the holy things because their brethren the Levites prepared portions for them. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 16. So all the service of the Lord was arranged and prepared on that day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 17. And the sons of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 18. No Passover like this was kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, and none of the kings of Israel kept such a Passover to the Lord as Josiah kept, having the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 35, verse 19. in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 20. The ventriloquists, and the mediums, and the images and the idols, and the other abominations which were in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, King Josiah burned with fire, to confirm the words of the law written in the book which Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 21. There was no one like him before him, who turned towards the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength in all the law of Moses. No one arose like him afterward. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 22. But the Lord did not turn from the anger of His great wrath with which the Lord was enraged against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Mannaseh provoked Him. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 23. And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah from before Me as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and the house where I said that My name would be there.”
Josiah Killed in Battle
2 Chronicles 35, verse 24. Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, came against the king of the Assyrians to fight at the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went out against him. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 25. But Pharaoh sent messengers to him saying, “What do I have to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come to fight against you today, and God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, so that He does not destroy you.” 2 Chronicles 35, verse 26. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but continued to fight with him. He did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 27. And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded.” 2 Chronicles 35, verse 28. His servants took him out of the chariot and put him in a second chariot he had, and brought him to Jerusalem. So he died and was buried with his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 29. Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah. And to this day, all the important men and women speak of Josiah in their lamentations. They made it a custom in Israel, and it is written in the Lamentations. 2 Chronicles 35, verse 30. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his hope are written in the Law of the Lord, 2 Chronicles 35, verse 31. and his deeds from first to last, indeed they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.