Bible Reading Plan – Day 191

₁₄While the money was being taken out of the storeroom, Hilkiah found the book of the Law of the LORD, the Law that God had given to Moses. ₁₅He said to Shaphan, “I have found the book of the Law here in the Temple.” He gave Shaphan the book, ₁₆and Shaphan took it to the king. He reported, “We have done everything that you commanded. ₁₇We have taken the money that was kept in the Temple and handed it over to the workmen and their supervisors.” ₁₈Then he added, “I have here a book that Hilkiah gave me.” And he read it aloud to the king.

₁₉When the king heard the book being read, he tore his clothes in dismay ₂₀and gave the following order to Hilkiah, to Ahikam son of Shaphan, to Abdon son of Micaiah, to Shaphan, the court secretary, and to Asaiah, the king's attendant: ₂₁“Go and consult the LORD for me and for the people who still remain in Israel and Judah. Find out about the teachings of this book. The LORD is angry with us because our ancestors have not obeyed the word of the LORD and have not done what this book says must be done.”

₂₂At the king's command, Hilkiah and the others went to consult a woman named Huldah, a prophet who lived in the newer part of Jerusalem. (Her husband Shallum, the son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas, was in charge of the temple robes.) They described to her what had happened, ₂₃and she told them to go back to the king and give him ₂₄the following message from the LORD: “I am going to punish Jerusalem and all its people with the curses written in the book that was read to the king. ₂₅They have rejected me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and so have stirred up my anger by all they have done. My anger is aroused against Jerusalem, and it will not die down. ₂₆As for the king himself, this is what I, the LORD God of Israel, say: You listened to what is written in the book, ₂₇and you repented and humbled yourself before me, tearing your clothes and weeping, when you heard how I threatened to punish Jerusalem and its people. I have heard your prayer, ₂₈and the punishment which I am going to bring on Jerusalem will not come until after your death. I will let you die in peace.”

The men returned to King Josiah with this message.

₂₉King Josiah summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, ₃₀and together they went to the Temple, accompanied by the priests and the Levites and all the rest of the people, rich and poor alike. Before them all, the king read aloud the whole book of the covenant, which had been found in the Temple. ₃₁He stood by the royal column and made a covenant with the LORD to obey him, to keep his laws and commands with all his heart and soul, and to put into practice the demands attached to the covenant, as written in the book. ₃₂He made the people of Benjamin and everyone else present in Jerusalem promise to keep the covenant. And so the people of Jerusalem obeyed the requirements of the covenant they had made with the God of their ancestors. ₃₃King Josiah destroyed all the disgusting idols that were in the territory belonging to the people of Israel, and as long as he lived, he required the people to serve the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

₁King Josiah celebrated the Passover at Jerusalem in honour of the LORD; on the fourteenth day of the first month they killed the animals for the festival. ₂He assigned to the priests the duties they were to perform in the Temple and encouraged them to do them well. ₃He also gave these instructions to the Levites, the teachers of Israel, who were dedicated to the LORD: “Put the sacred Covenant Box in the Temple that King Solomon, the son of David, built. You are no longer to carry it from place to place, but you are to serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. ₄Take your places in the Temple by clans, according to the responsibilities assigned to you by King David and his son King Solomon, ₅and arrange yourselves so that some of you will be available to help each family of the people of Israel. ₆You are to kill the Passover lambs and goats. Now make yourselves ritually clean and prepare the sacrifices in order that your fellow-Israelites may follow the instructions which the LORD gave through Moses.”

₇For the use of the people at the Passover, King Josiah contributed from his own herds and flocks 30,000 sheep, lambs, and young goats, and 3,000 bulls. ₈His officials also made contributions for the people, the priests, and the Levites to use. And the officials in charge of the Temple — Hilkiah, the High Priest, Zechariah, and Jehiel — gave the priests 2,600 lambs and young goats and 300 bulls for sacrifices during the festival. ₉The leaders of the Levites — Conaniah, Shemaiah and his brother Nethanel, Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad — contributed 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls for the Levites to offer as sacrifices.

₁₀When everything was arranged for the Passover, the priests and the Levites took their places, as commanded by the king. ₁₁After the lambs and goats had been killed, the Levites skinned them, and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. ₁₂Then they divided among the people, by family groups, the animals for burnt offerings, so that they could offer them according to the instructions in the Law of Moses. ₁₃The Levites roasted the Passover sacrifices over the fire, according to the regulations, and boiled the sacred offerings in pots, cauldrons, and pans, and quickly distributed the meat to the people. ₁₄After this was done, the Levites provided meat for themselves and for the priests descended from Aaron, for the priests were kept busy until night, burning the animals that were burnt whole and the fat of the sacrifices. ₁₅The following musicians of the Levite clan of Asaph were in the places assigned to them by King David's instructions: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's prophet. The guards at the temple gates did not need to leave their posts, because the other Levites prepared the Passover for them. ₁₆So, as King Josiah had commanded, everything was done that day for the worship of the LORD, the keeping of the Passover Festival, and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar. ₁₇For seven days all the people of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ₁₈Since the days of the prophet Samuel, the Passover had never been celebrated like this. None of the former kings had ever celebrated a Passover like this one celebrated by King Josiah, the priests, the Levites, and the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem ₁₉in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.

₂₀After King Josiah had done all this for the Temple, King Neco of Egypt led an army to fight at Carchemish on the River Euphrates. Josiah tried to stop him, ₂₁but Neco sent Josiah this message: “This war I am fighting does not concern you, King of Judah. I have not come to fight you, but to fight my enemies, and God has told me to hurry. God is on my side, so don't oppose me, or he will destroy you.” ₂₂But Josiah was determined to fight. He refused to listen to what God was saying through King Neco, so he disguised himself and went into battle on the plain of Megiddo.

₂₃During the battle King Josiah was struck by Egyptian arrows. He ordered his servants, “Take me away; I'm badly hurt!” ₂₄They lifted him out of his chariot, placed him in a second chariot which he had there, and took him to Jerusalem. There he died and was buried in the royal tombs. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned his death.

₂₅The prophet Jeremiah composed a lament for King Josiah. It has become a custom in Israel for the singers, both men and women, to use this song when they mourn for him. The song is found in the collection of laments.

₂₆Everything that Josiah did — his devotion to the LORD, his obedience to the Law, ₂₇and his history from beginning to end — is all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.