Chapter 35
1 Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem . They killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month .
2 He set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the LORD ’s house .
3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel , who were holy to the LORD , " Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built . It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders . Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel .
4 Prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your divisions , according to the writing of David king of Israel , and according to the writing of Solomon his son .
5 Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the children of the people , and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ house of the Levites .
6 Kill the Passover lamb, sanctify yourselves , and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the LORD ’s word by Moses ."
7 Josiah gave to the children of the people , of the flock , lambs and young goats , all of them for the Passover offerings , to all who were present , to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls . These were of the king ’s substance .
8 His princes gave a free will offering to the people , to the priests , and to the Levites . Hilkiah , Zechariah , and Jehiel , the rulers of God ’s house , gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle .
9 Conaniah also , and Shemaiah and Nethanel , his brothers, and Hashabiah , Jeiel , and Jozabad , the chiefs of the Levites , gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle .
10 So the service was prepared , and the priests stood in their place , and the Levites by their divisions , according to the king ’s commandment .
11 They killed the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from their hands , and the Levites skinned them .
12 They removed the burnt offerings , that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people , to offer to the LORD , as it is written in the book of Moses . They did the same with the cattle .
13 They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance . They boiled the holy offerings in pots , in cauldrons, and in pans , and carried them quickly to all the children of the people .
14 Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests , because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy with 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 in their place , according to the commandment of David , Asaph, Heman , and Jeduthun the king ’s seer ; and the gatekeepers were at every gate . They didn’t need to depart from their service , because their brothers the Levites prepared for them .
16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day , to keep the Passover , and to offer burnt offerings on the LORD ’s altar , according to the commandment of King Josiah .
17 The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time , and the feast of unleavened bread seven days .
18 There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet , nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept — with the priests , the Levites , and all Judah and Israel who were present , and the inhabitants of Jerusalem .
19 This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah .
20 After all this , when Josiah had prepared the temple , Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates , and Josiah went out against him .
21 But he sent ambassadors to him , saying, " What have I to do with you , you king of Judah ? I come not against you today , but against the house with which I have war . God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me , that he not destroy you ."
22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him , but disguised himself , that he might fight with him , and didn’t listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God , and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo .
23 The archers shot at King Josiah ; and the king said to his servants , " Take me away , because I am seriously wounded !"
24 So his servants took him out of the chariot , and put him in the second chariot that he had , and brought him to Jerusalem ; and he died , and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah .
25 Jeremiah lamented for Josiah , and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day ; and they made them an ordinance in Israel . Behold , they are written in the lamentations .
26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds , according to that which is written in the LORD ’s law ,
27 and his acts , first and last, behold , they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah .