1 Then Josiah A2 Kin 23:21celebrated the Passover to the Loʀᴅ in Jerusalem, and BEx 12:6; Num 9:3they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He set the priests in their offices and A2 Chr 29:11encouraged them in the service of the house of the Loʀᴅ. 3 He also said to A2 Chr 17:8, 9; Neh 8:7the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Loʀᴅ, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; B1 Chr 23:26it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Loʀᴅ your God and His people Israel. 4  “A1 Chr 9:10-13Prepare yourselves by your fathers’ households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and B2 Chr 8:14according to the writing of his son Solomon. 5  “Moreover, AEzra 6:18stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your brethren the 1Lit sons of the people, and so throughout the chlay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household. 6  “Now A2 Chr 35:1slaughter the Passover animals, B2 Chr 29:5sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Loʀᴅ by Moses.”

7 Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering 30,000 plus 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. 8 His officers also contributed a freewill offering to the people, the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, A2 Chr 31:13the officials of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 from the flocks and 300 bulls. 9 A2 Chr 31:12Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 from the flocks and 500 bulls.

10 So the service was prepared, and A2 Chr 35:5the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 1I.e. the LevitesA2 Chr 35:1, 6They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while B2 Chr 29:22the priests sprinkled 2So with Grthe blood received from their hand, C2 Chr 29:34the Levites skinned them. 12 Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the Loʀᴅ, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls. 13 So AEx 12:8, 9they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled BLev 6:28the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people. 14 Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their stations A1 Chr 25:1according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and B1 Chr 26:12-19the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service, because the Levites their brethren prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the Loʀᴅ was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Loʀᴅ according to the command of King Josiah. 17 Thus AEx 12:1-20; 2 Chr 30:21the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 A2 Kin 23:21; 2 Chr 30:5There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign this Passover was celebrated.

20 A2 Kin 23:29, 30After all this, when Josiah had set the 1Lit housetemple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at BIs 10:9; Jer 46:2Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. 21 But 1Lit heNeco sent messengers to him, saying, “A2 Chr 25:19What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.” 22 However, Josiah would not turn 1Lit his faceaway from him, but A2 Chr 18:29disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco B2 Chr 35:21from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of CJudg 5:19Megiddo. 23 The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem 1Lit andwhere he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. AZech 12:11All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Then AJer 22:10; Lam 4:20Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of the Loʀᴅ, 27 and his acts, first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.