Josiah Keeps the Passover

1Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2And he set the priests in their duties, and encouraged them for the service of the house of the LORD,

3And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, who were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall no longer be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,

4And prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses, according to your divisions, according to the writings of David king of Israel, and according to the writings of Solomon his son.

5And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your brethren the lay people, and according to the division of the families of the Levites.

6So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

7And Josiah gave to the people, from the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's possessions.

8And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.

9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's commandment.

11And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites skinned them.

12And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

13And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly among all the lay people.

14And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy in the offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

15And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the gatekeepers waited at every gate; they did not need to depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

16So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

17And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

18And there was no passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

The Death of Josiah

20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war: for God commanded me to make haste: cease from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroys you not.

22Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

23And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Take me away; for I am badly wounded.

24His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

27And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.