2 *Chronicles 35

₁Josiah celebrated the Passover of the Lord in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover lambs on the 14th day of the first month. ₂Josiah chose the priests and he gave each one of them the work that he had to do. ₃Then he talked to the Levites. They were the teachers of the people of Israel and they had been consecrated to serve the Lord. Josiah said to them: ‘You must put the covenant box of the Lord in the temple that Solomon, son of David, king_of_Israel built, and it must stay there. You don't have to carry the covenant box on your shoulders again. You must do other work for the Lord and for his people. ₄Get ready to work in groups like King David of Israel and his son Solomon wrote. ₅You must go and stand at the temple. There must be a group of Levites for each of the families of the people. ₆Then you must kill the Passover lamb. You must consecrate yourselves and you must help the Israelites so that they can do what the Lord said to Moses.’

₇King Josiah gave the Passover lambs to the Israelites, to everyone who was there. He gave 30 000 lambs and goat lambs as well as 3 000 bulls. All of them were the king's own sheep, goats and cattle. ₈His officials also decided to give animals to the people and to the priests and Levites. The chiefs of the temple were Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel. They gave 2 600 Passover lambs and 300 cattle to the priests. ₉The leaders of the Levites were Konaniah and his brothers Shemaiah, Nethanel, Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad. They gave 5 000 Passover lambs and 500 cattle to the Levites. ₁₀When they were ready to start the Passover, the priests went to stand in their places and the Levites were standing in their groups. They did what the king said. ₁₁Then they started killing the Passover lambs. The Levites took off the skins of the animals and they gave the blood to the priests. The priests sprinkled the blood onto the altar. ₁₂They took the parts of the sheep that they had to burn and they put them in another place so that they could give them to the groups of families of Israelites. The groups of families could then sacrifice the meat to the Lord as it is written in the books_of_Moses. They did the same with the cattle. ₁₃They sacrificed the Passover lambs on fire as they had to do and they cooked the meat that was holy_gifts in pots, bowls and pans and they immediately gave the meat to the people. ₁₄Then the Levites cooked some meat for themselves and for the priests, because the priests had to work until late that afternoon to sacrifice the burnt-offerings and the fat of the other offerings. That is why the Levites had to cook meat for themselves and for the priests. ₁₅The people of the Asaph family who had to sing stood in their places like David said, and so did Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, the prophet of the king. All the gatekeepers were standing at the gates where they had to be. They did not have to go away from the gate where they were standing because the other Levites cooked meat and gave it to them. ₁₆On that day they all did what they had to do and they celebrated the Passover of the Lord and they sacrificed and burnt all the offerings on the altar of the Lord as King Josiah said. ₁₇The Israelites who were in Jerusalem at that time celebrated the Passover and the Feast of the flat bread for 7 days. ₁₈It was a great feast. From the time when the prophet Samuel lived, they had never celebrated the Passover in the land_of_Israel like that. Not one of the kings of Israel had celebrated the Passover like Josiah did, with the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah, the people of Israel and the people of Jerusalem. ₁₉They celebrated this Passover in the 18th year after Josiah had become king.

₂₀After all of this and after Josiah had repaired the temple, King Necho of Egypt went to war with the people of the town of Carchemish, near the Euphrates River and Josiah went to stop him. ₂₁Necho sent messengers to Josiah and they told Josiah: ‘King Josiah of Judah, we do not want to make war_against you. I did not come to attack you. I came to attack my enemies. God told me to do it immediately. Don't do anything against God who has sent me, or He will cause you to die.’

₂₂But Josiah did not go away from Necho. He wanted to fight. Josiah put on different clothes so that they could not see that he was the king. He did not listen when Necho warned him, but it was God who told Necho what to say. Josiah attacked Necho in the Megiddo Valley. ₂₃The soldiers of Egypt shot and wounded Josiah with a bow_and_arrow and Josiah told his officers: ‘Take me away from here because they have shot me with an arrow and I am wounded.’

₂₄The officers put Josiah on another war-chariot and they took him to Jerusalem. He died and they buried him in the grave of his forefathers. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

₂₅Jeremiah wrote a sad song for Josiah when they buried him and to this day men and women sing this lamentation for Josiah. They said all the Israelites must always do it. This song is written in the book of Lamentations.

₂₆All the things that Josiah did, and also the good things that he continued to do, are written in the book_of_the_laws of the Lord. ₂₇The things that he did from the time when he became king until he died are written in the book of kings_of_Israel and Judah.