2 Chronicles 35

Instructions to the Priests and Levites 2 Chronicles 35:3–6

³Verse 3. He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Yahweh, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God, and his people Israel. ⁴Verse 4. Prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. ⁵Verse 5. Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ house of the Levites.

⁶Verse 6. Kill the Passover, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to Yahweh’s word by Moses.”

Offerings for the Passover 2 Chronicles 35:7–9

⁷Verse 7. Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls. These were of the king’s substance. ⁸Verse 8. His princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of God’s house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle. ⁹Verse 9. Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle.

Execution of the Passover 2 Chronicles 35:10–16

¹⁰Verse 10. So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king’s commandment. ¹¹Verse 11. They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them. ¹²Verse 12. They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people, to offer to Yahweh, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. ¹³Verse 13. They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.

¹⁴Verse 14. Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. Therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵Verse 15. The singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at every gate. They didn’t need to depart from their service, because their brothers the Levites prepared for them. ¹⁶Verse 16. So all the service of Yahweh was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on Yahweh’s altar, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

Observance of Passover 2 Chronicles 35:17–19

¹⁷Verse 17. The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸Verse 18. There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹Verse 19. This passover was kept in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

Josiah's Conflict with Neco 2 Chronicles 35:20–24

²⁰Verse 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. ²¹Verse 21. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you today, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you.” ²²Verse 22. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn’t listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

²³Verse 23. The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, because I am seriously wounded!” ²⁴Verse 24. So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

Lament for Josiah 2 Chronicles 35:25–27

²⁵Verse 25. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the lamentations. ²⁶Verse 26. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in Yahweh’s law, ²⁷Verse 27. and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.