2 Chronicles
Chapter 35
1 Josiah celebrated Passover for God in Jerusalem, and they sacrificed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 He placed the priests in their duties and motivated them to serve in God’s house.
3 He told the Levites, who taught all Israel and were dedicated to God, “Place the sacred chest in the temple that Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, built. Do not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve God and his people Israel.”
4 Get ready by your family homes, as set by your groups, following King David of Israel’s instructions, and those of his son Solomon.
5 Stand in the sacred area organized by the groups of your brothers’ ancestral families and in the order of the Levite families.
6 Prepare the Passover lamb, make yourselves holy, and get your brothers ready so they can follow God’s instructions given through Moses.
7 Josiah gave the people 30,000 lambs and young goats, and 3,000 bulls for the Passover sacrifices. All these animals were from the king’s own resources.
8 His leaders freely gave gifts to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, who were in charge of God’s house, gave the priests two thousand six hundred sheep and goats and three hundred cattle for the Passover sacrifices.
9 Conaniah, Shemaiah, Nethaneel, and their brothers, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, who were leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites five thousand sheep and goats, and five hundred cows for the Passover sacrifices.
10 The service was ready, and the priests stood in their spots, and the Levites in their groups, as the king ordered.
11 They sacrificed the Passover lamb, and the priests threw the blood with their hands, and the Levites skinned the animals.
12 They took away the burnt offerings to give them out by the families of the people for God, as written in Moses’ book. They did the same with the oxen.
13 They cooked the Passover lamb with fire as the rule says. They boiled the other sacred offerings in pots, kettles, and pans and quickly shared them with everyone.
14 Later, they got ready for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, Aaron’s sons, were busy with burnt offerings and fat until evening; so the Levites made preparations for themselves and for Aaron’s sons, the priests.
15 The singers, Asaph’s sons, were in their spots, following David’s, Asaph’s, Heman’s, and Jeduthun’s orders, the king’s prophet, and the gatekeepers stayed at each gate. They couldn’t leave their job because their fellow Levites set up for them.
16 All the work for God was ready on that day, to celebrate Passover and to give burnt offerings on God’s altar, as King Josiah had ordered.
17 The Israelites there celebrated Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18 There had never been a Passover like the one celebrated in Israel since the time of Samuel the prophet; none of the kings of Israel had ever observed a Passover like the one Josiah, the priests, the Levites, and all the people from Judah and Israel who were there, along with the people of Jerusalem, did.
19 In Josiah’s eighteenth year as king, this Passover was observed.
20 After doing all this, when Josiah had fixed the temple, Necho the king of Egypt came to battle at Charchemish by the Euphrates river, and Josiah went out to face him.
21 He sent messengers to him, asking, “Why should I conflict with you, king of Judah? I’m not here to fight you today, but to battle another house I’m at war with, because God told me to hurry. Don’t interfere with God who is with me, so you won’t be destroyed.”
22 Josiah wouldn’t stop going after him but disguised himself to fight him, ignoring what Necho said were God’s words, and went to battle in Megiddo valley.
23 The archers hit King Josiah with arrows. The king told his servants, “Take me away; I am badly hurt.”
24 So his servants took him from his chariot, placed him in his other chariot, then took him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in his ancestors’ tomb. All Judah and Jerusalem grieved for Josiah.
25 Jeremiah mourned for Josiah, and all the male and female singers talk about Josiah in their songs of sorrow even now. They turned this into a rule in Israel, and look, it’s recorded in the songs of sorrow.
26 The other things Josiah did and his kind acts, following what is written in God’s law,
27 His actions, from beginning to end, are recorded in the history book of Israel and Judah’s kings.