2 ChroniclesChapter 35

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¹Then Josiah held the Passover for the LORD in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was killed on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²He gave the priests their jobs. He cheered them on as they served in the house of the LORD. ³The Levites taught all Israel and were set apart to the LORD. Josiah said to them, "Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon built. He was the son of David king of Israel. You don't need to carry the ark on your shoulders anymore. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. ⁴Get ready by your families in your groups. Follow what David king of Israel wrote down. Follow what his son Solomon wrote too. ⁵Also, stand in the Holy Place in groups. Match the family groups of your relatives, the common people. Have a group of Levite families for each of them. ⁶Kill the Passover lambs. Make yourselves holy. Get things ready for your fellow Israelites. Do what the LORD said through Moses." ⁷Josiah gave 30,000 lambs and young goats from his own flocks. He also gave 3,000 bulls from his own herds. They were for the Passover offerings for all the people who were there. ⁸His officials also gave gladly to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel were the chief officials of God's house. They gave the priests 2,600 Passover animals and 300 bulls. ⁹Some leaders of the Levites gave too. They were Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and also Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad. They gave the Levites 5,000 Passover animals and 500 bulls. ¹⁰So everything was ready for the service. The priests stood in their places. The Levites stood in their groups, just as the king had ordered. ¹¹They killed the Passover lambs. The Levites handed the blood to the priests, and the priests splashed it. The Levites skinned the animals. ¹²They set aside the burnt offerings. They gave them to the family groups of the people to offer to the LORD. This is what was written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the bulls. ¹³They roasted the Passover animals over the fire, just as the rules said. They boiled the other holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. Then they quickly served them to all the people. ¹⁴After that, the Levites got things ready for themselves and for the priests. This was because the priests, who came from Aaron, were busy offering burnt offerings and fat until night. So the Levites got things ready for themselves and for the priests, Aaron's sons. ¹⁵The singers came from Asaph's family. They were at their places, as David had ordered. Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer had ordered it too. The gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their posts. That was because their fellow Levites got things ready for them. ¹⁶So on that day all the service of the LORD was done. They held the Passover. They offered burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD. It was all done as King Josiah had ordered. ¹⁷The Israelites who were there held the Passover at that time. They also held the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸There had not been a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever held a Passover like this one. Josiah held it with the priests and the Levites. All Judah was there, and so were the Israelites who came and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁹This Passover was held in the eighteenth year that Josiah was king. ²⁰After all this, Josiah had put the temple in order. Then Neco king of Egypt marched up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates River. Josiah went out to face him in battle. ²¹But Neco sent messengers to him. They said, "What do you have against me, king of Judah? I have not come to fight you today. I am fighting another royal family. God has told me to hurry. So stop fighting God, who is with me. If you don't, he will destroy you!" ²²But Josiah would not turn away from him. He dressed up so no one would know him, so he could fight Neco. He did not listen to what Neco said, though it came from God. He went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo. ²³There the archers shot King Josiah. He said to his servants, "Take me away. I am badly hurt!" ²⁴So his servants took him out of his chariot. They put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. There he died. Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him. ²⁵Jeremiah sang sad songs for Josiah. To this day, all the men and women singers still sing sad songs about Josiah. These songs became a rule in Israel. They are written in the Book of Laments. ²⁶The rest of what Josiah did is written down. So are his acts of faithful love, which followed what is written in the Law of the LORD. ²⁷All he did, from start to finish, is written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.