2 Chronicles 35
1Moreover
Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2And he set the priests in their charges,
and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,
3And
said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the
son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his
people Israel,
4And prepare yourselves by
the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing
of Solomon his son.
5And stand in the holy
place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the
families of the Levites.
6So kill the passover,
and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
7And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock,
lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand
bullocks: these were of the king's substance.
8And
his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of
the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle and three hundred
oxen.
9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel,
his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five
thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
10So
the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's
commandment.
11And they killed the passover,
and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
12And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families
of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
13And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other
holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.
14And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the
priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared
for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
15And
the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun
the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites
prepared for them.
16So all the service of
the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according
to the commandment of king Josiah.
17And the
children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel
the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and
all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came
up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not
against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling
with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
22Nevertheless
Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words
of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
23And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore
wounded.
24His servants therefore took him
out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was
buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women
spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in
the lamentations.
26Now the rest of the acts
of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,
27And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings
of Israel and Judah.