2 Chronicles 35

35 ¹ Josiah kept Passover to our Father in Jerusalem; they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He assigned priests their duties and encouraged them in service of our Father's house. ³ He told the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to our Father: "Put the holy ark in the house Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built. You need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now serve your Father and his people Israel." ⁴ Prepare yourselves by your fathers' houses, by your divisions, by David king of Israel's written instructions, and his son Solomon's instructions. ⁵ Stand in the holy place by family groups of your lay brothers, one Levite division per group. ⁶ Slaughter the Passover lamb, dedicate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, following the word of our Father through Moses.

⁷ Josiah gave the lay people thirty thousand lambs and young goats, three thousand bulls, for Passover offerings — for everyone present, from his own possessions. ⁸ His officials also gave willingly to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officers of our Father's house, gave the priests two thousand six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred bulls. ⁹ Conaniah, with his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, Levite leaders, gave the Levites five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred bulls.

¹⁰ The service was set; priests stood at their posts, Levites by their divisions, as the king commanded. ¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover lambs; priests sprinkled the blood passed to them, and Levites skinned them. ¹² They set aside the burnt offerings, distributing them by family division among the common people, to offer to our Father as written in the book of Moses; likewise with the bulls. ¹³ They roasted the Passover lamb in fire as required, boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and quickly brought them to all the common people. ¹⁴ Afterward they prepared for themselves and the priests, since the priests, Aaron's sons, were busy offering burnt offerings and fat portions until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and the priests, Aaron's sons. ¹⁵ The singers, Asaph's sons, stood at their posts as David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer had commanded. The gatekeepers stayed at each gate; they had no need to leave their duty, for their fellow Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶ So all the service of our Father was arranged that day: to keep Passover and offer burnt offerings on the altar of our Father, by King Josiah's command. ¹⁷ The Israelites present kept Passover then, and the Feast of Yeast-Free Bread seven days. ¹⁸ No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since Samuel the prophet's days; none of Israel's kings kept a Passover like Josiah's, with the priests, Levites, all Judah and Israel present, and Jerusalem's residents. ¹⁹ This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.

Josiah Falls in Battle at Megiddo

²⁰ After all this, once Josiah had prepared the temple, Egypt's king Neco marched up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. ²¹ But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "What do we have to do with each other, king of Judah? I'm not coming against you today, but against the house I'm at war with. God told me to hurry — stop opposing God, who is with me, or he'll destroy you."

²² Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself to fight him. He ignored Neco's words from the mouth of our Father, and went to fight in the plain of Megiddo. ^a a v22 Our Father's warning reached Josiah even through a foreign king's mouth, but Josiah would not listen — and what was meant to protect him went unheeded. ²³ Archers shot King Josiah; he told his servants, "Get me out—I'm badly wounded."

²⁴ His servants moved him from the chariot to his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in his fathers' tombs. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned Josiah.

²⁵ Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day singers, men and women, sing laments for Josiah. This became a custom in Israel, and it is written in the Laments. ²⁶ The rest of Josiah's acts, and his faithful deeds, as written in our Father's law, ²⁷ His acts, first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.